


Like a Jigsaw Piece

by ArchKanine



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU/timeline crossovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, eventual war trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2020-10-06 23:51:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20515562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchKanine/pseuds/ArchKanine
Summary: AU / Timeline swap. One shot, practicing for more stories. OC character falls through timelines. Female monster x Sans (classic) Wanted to incorporate fonts for speakers but it didn't translate. OC is named after their font.





	1. Chapter 1

** *Sans’ POV***

It’s absolutely beautiful outside today. Sunlight trickles through the trees outside as birds sing happily, on days like today, everything seems perfect, serene. 

“ **SANS YOU LAZY PILE OF BONES!! GET YOUR USELESS BUTT OUT OF BED AND DO SOMETHING!** ” Comes a booming scream. It’s heinously jarring to the ears and carries far, frightening away any creature within 15 feet of the house. Loud banging quickly follows accompanied by heavy stomps and a few slammed doors. 

Sans lazies in his spot in the yard and cracks open a socket just in time to see Red unceremoniously tossed out into the backyard. Carefully he chuckles under his breath then closes his eyes again as Red storms past fuming about off days and nothing to do. 

“ Why so gloom buddy? ” Sans starts the corners of his grin twitching up, “  Time for ‘mourn-ing’ is over, heh heh. ”

“ **Shut it pintsized!** ” Red growled bristling angrily.

“ Whoa there! Coffee shops just down the street, no need to lose your ‘tamper’. ” With that he casually voiped off his hammock only to reappear in the grass at the adjacent tree, still lounging. Red had thrown a bone bullet in his general direction but was just a few seconds late sending it careening over the hammock to rut into the yard. He grumbled loudly rolling his eyes not even bother stopping on his way to the end of the property where hazy red smoke engulfed him then he was gone. Having some of the alternate universe versions of Papy and himself made life on the surface more fun or at least for Sans more normal.

The house they bought had been expanded on having plenty of new bedrooms and bathrooms added along with extra office or gaming spaces for any extra guests should they ‘pop’ in for a visit. Of all of them however the Papyrus and Sans from Underfell and Underswap visited the most since a good portion of the others didn’t get along as much. Don’t get him wrong, there had been a few house parties over the years where they had been packed. Alphys’ and Undynes’ too along with almost all of the other discovered AU selves made quite the ruckus one particular Gyftmas. In Underfell their Frisk had gotten everyone to the surface and was busy being the little diplomatic bee she could be leaving Edge and Red with spans of free time. The same was similar with Underswap although their Chara declined being ambassador and opted for actually having a childhood. It made him happy that some of his alternate selves could have a happy ending. 

The day picked up when Papyrus and Blue came back from last minute errand runs. Stretch helped having finally come out of hiding from his room no doubt keeping away from Edge and Red even popped back in at an “acceptable hour” as his brother deemed. Alphys and Undyne came by to watch anime as was traditional for Sunday nights. Take out had been ordered and antics ensued as Undyne and Pap set up the big projector screen against the back wall of the house. Sans had hunkered down in his lab for last minute equations a few hours ago when Alphys knocked then entered calling cautiously.

“ S-Sans? ” To which he waved in response causing her to wring her hands nervously, “ U-u-uh everythings been set u-up and Red House just delivered the food. So it’s time to start th-that is uh… o-o-of course if you aren’t too busy .”

Sans set his scribbles aside and strode to his machine, “ Of course. Just wanted to get a few more test runs on the machine. Gotta say jogging ain’t really my thing .” This drew a snicker from Alphys. Sans turned it down and started slipping out of his lab coat as it’s hum slowly died down. “So we're eating  Red House, huh? You've 'cat' to be kidding me."

Alphys laughed only succeeding in stifling half behind her hand with little snorts. “ Oh Sans stop! ”

He gave a lazy wink and shrugged helplessly as they left the shed. He gave a passing flick to the light and kept the jokes rolling all the way to the group where Pap promptly snatched him up and begged him to stop with his horrid jokes no one wanted to hear. Besides it was time for anime and friendship and comic battles not ‘Sans telling more awful jokes time’ as Pap was certain everyone had reached their limit anyway.

The episode was action packed and even answered to the pesky question of who the main heroine preferred in the weird love triangle that had been prevalent throughout the season. After cleaning up everyone filed to their respective rooms, Alphys and Undyne folded out the couch to stay the night since it was super late and soon the soft chirping of crickets filled the yard. Everything was normal until about three in the morning. In the shed the machine had sat humming quietly never fully stopping from since before the movie. Slowly it’s hum had grown into a loud rumble and began sucking so much energy it tripped the generator in the shed, turning everything on as it began making various noises coming to life. It jostled and shook in place in a threatening manner until there was a loud crack and smell of ozone. It had tripped the breaker of the house and sent an echoing crack washing over the property. 

Sans shot up in bed, eye light glowing blue. He could sense a threat but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. He had woken up to what sounded like lightning cracking then felt the shockwave of magical energy. Nearly everyone in the house had heard it too and were rousing from sleep to investigate. Sans took a shortcut to the common room and called for Pap. He was fine but already making his way outside followed close behind by Undyne.

“ Stay back babe we’ll check this out! Undyne barked readying a spear.

Sans and Red took a shortcut out back and simultaneously cursed under their breath. The shed was lit up like a roman candle and was the source of the loud rumble. 

“ **Don’t you know how to turn that thing off!** ” Red growled taking a few cautious steps closer to the shed.

The sound of another crack interrupted anything Sans would have said followed by a chorus of metal clanging and crashing around. Undyne bellowed out a battle cry and jumped forward flinging the door to the shed open. Sans, Red, and Pap followed close suit while Stretch, Blue, and Edge stood right outside in front of Alphys, attacks at the ready. 

“ What the- ” Undyne stopped short lowering her spear only slightly.

Paper fluttered across the space and in the dim flickering light the open door of the machine could still be seen swinging wildly open and dented along with the table Sans had been working at not a few hours prior was now knocked askew a few feet and was toppled over. Red ran to unplug the main power cord while Sans circled around following the chaos then jumped.

“ Holy Shit! ” he yelped. “ Alphys, Papyrus get in here quick! Undyne right that table! ” Sans quickly gathered up what had been in the floor and spread it gently on the table. What had crashed into his lab scattering the table and most likely caused the unfortunate denting to the door to his machine had been a skeleton. If he could Sans would have paled at the sight of this foreign skeleton. His machine actually worked in comparison to the original one back at Alphys’ lab it was how he had had the Sans’ and Papyrus’ from the other universes brought here. But not only had he merely done simple calibrations to it earlier, thus it should not of even had coordinates punched in to bring anyone from anywhere but this skeleton was nothing like what had come through before…they weren’t a Sans or a Papyrus. Tension was palpable as everyone made their way in. The skeleton had a small frame and soft cream colored bones, they wore some type of hospital gown which was currently being soaked through with dust and marrow. Papy jumped in through Sans’ shock and began healing, the green waves washing over the skeleton while Alphys yanked a large emergency box from off the wall. Everyone else jumped as power came back on in the house and shed before they started talking all at once. Who was this skeleton? Were they going to make it? How did this happen?

Red had moved to the other side of the table and was examining the skeleton in the same manner Sans was, trying to pick out details and clues as to where they came from or who they might be. He growled deeply clearly agitated then he fixed Sans with his red hot eyelights.

“ **Ya know ‘ve always said your machine was gonna be the death of one of us one of these days.** ” He gestured vaguely, “ **Point in case.** ”

There was a large threatening crack along the right side of their skull which Alphys had started securing with wrapping and gauze along with a missing tooth. Papyrus had their humerus set from where it had snapped in half and was healing it, edges of bone beginning to fuse back together. Some of the ribs had snapped or cracked along with another large crack along the top of the pelvis just visible through the side of the gown. A shuddering groan escaped their mouth as their eyes tried to flutter open, their bones rattling violently as they began to come to.

Sans placed a hand on their shoulder tentatively, “ Hold still pal we got’cha .” Sweat beaded on his skull as they pushed against him groaning. He used his magic to press into them, a little blue magic to help still them so the others could work. “ C’mon just lie still .”

“ Nnnnnno- !” They rasped. Magic suddenly flashed blindingly through the room causing Pap and Alphys to flinch back a bit. Green raced along their bones as they eye sockets flew open. Green healing magic poured out from them and their mouth in a quiet cry as bones made soft cracking sounds. They were moving back into place and fusing together or regenerating.

Alphys’ mouth lay agape, “ I-I...I can’t believe it! ” Her awe was matched by everyone in the shed.

Noone had ever seen healing like this. The skull fused back together, empty socket finding a new tooth inside it, and any cracks or bruises slowly dissipated as the skeleton hovered barely a hair's breath off the table. Then they connected back to the table seemingly good as new as their magical glow died down sapping the green aura from the air. The only evidence of the abuse was the marrow soaked gown but they were still unconscious. Well this just raised a whole new level of questions.


	2. Chap 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chance at revival. A chance for some answers.

***Sans’ POV***

Sans rubbed his face roughly staring down at his half finished coffee feeling completely bone tired. He, Red, and Blue had burned the midnight oil or at least what had been left of it in Alphys’ lab. Papyrus stayed at the house with Edge to prepare for their return while Stretch had left with Undyne to alert the king and queen about the nights happenings. The dark circles under his sockets were more pronounced and felt heavy making even blinking tiring. Red’s notes showed no changes from earlier observations, the skeleton was stable and other than magic levels being understandably low there was no reason they shouldn’t have woken up by now. The clock on the microwave ticked away another minute, 8:34 a.m. 

Alphys’ voice called from the box near the door, “ U-uh Sans could you c-come to the lab please? ” Her voice lacked anything urgent which was a small relief for his nerves. He topped off his coffee and made his way down the hall to one of the corridors on the left. The reinforced doors of lab area C-3 swung inward smoothly when he approached then shut with a soft click locking into place once he was inside. Blue had the end of a machine San’s recognized from his past. The machine itself was far from sinister but the manner it had been used on him still brought an unwanted tingle to his bones. Red stood at the other end of the machine starting it up and dialing up the levels of magic they would need. The skeleton had been cleaned up and changed into the smallest gown they had which somehow managed to make them look even smaller than before.

“ W-we well I… that is to say… we’ve agreed on a course of action to maybe wake the Skeleton, ” she started. 

Sans nodded, “ Gonna try to jump start their battery right. ”

“ **We don’t know what kind of output that machine of yours put on them, but maybe we can get close enough to the right frequency and that’ll -** ” Red clicked against his teeth giving this thumb a jerk up, not taking his eyes off the screen he was working on, “ ** wake’em up.** ”

Sans moved with Alphys behind the safety blind and gave a thumbs up when they were covered. Red gave a curt nod to Blue who switched a lever on the machine’s end. White magic hummed through the lead from where the bulk was into the bit filling the chambers with white until small crackling bits arched from its tip. Red charged the pulse up to a five for control to which Blue confirmed also dialing the meter on his end to five then touched the unmoving skeleton over the sternum. White magic sparked from the connection sending the tiniest of jolts through the still bones but otherwise a lackluster response. Red confirmed dialing up to 10 again with Blue affirming the same on his end then touched the tip to the skeleton again.

Red tsk’d from behind the screen then flicked a few switches and turned on a few different dials as the machine hummed louder. He flicked his glasses back down from where they had been resting on his skull and penciled in some new numbers on a pad beside him. Sans could see he was using a different magic type as white mixed into purple. Blue looked skeptical as the end swirled with purple and white but waited for his cue regardless. Sans’ mind raced with the calculations second checking Red’s train of thought. Determination, he shuddered, could have ill effects on monsters but Perseverance was a good substitute he just had to be sure the frequency was correct. If the levels of perseverance were too great it could cause a rather… persistent wound. Satisfied with his math Red charged the pulse to a four and nodded to Blue. 

Purple and white sparks danced across the tip of the bit and hissed menacingly. Blue visibly swallowed, hope painted on his face that this would work and they wouldn’t have to go any higher. Right before it connected, like the negative and positive reaction lightening uses to flash to life, soft pale green wisps reached up through the ribs of the unconscious skeleton and met the purple and white magic emanating from the machine. They connected and instantly there was a loud crack mixed with the smell of ozone and magic. Microseconds after another large pulse of green magic surged from the skeleton, knocking Blue back and the bit from his hand. 

Sans’ ears were ringing but he could hear a phantom cry of pain steadily becoming clearer. Red hit the kill switch and leapt over the counter to pull Blue up, his magic flaring at the offensive magic radiating from the small skeleton on the table. They had screamed and leapt off the table almost on instinct raising a barrier around themselves. Sans and Alphys ran out from behind the safety blind hands up trying to reassure that no one was being threatening.

“ STAY BACK! ” They yelled struggling to keep their barrier up. It flickered in and out all the while their bones rattled fiercely. Even though they could barely stand and their breath was labored they still focused their eyelights directly on Sans. They were glowing a faint sparkling green, “ You ...s-stay back. ”

“ Hey calm down, everythings ok .” Sans took a step closer hands still up, “ We’re glad you’re awake. You uh had us scared to ‘death’ there for a minute. ”

They slumped against the table with a groan, eye lights dimming as they tired to stay upright, “ Y-you… where ...am ..I? ” They frantically looked about the room as their barrier fizzled away, “ M’n lab? ” If it hadn’t been for the oppressing feeling of their magic Sans would have moved closer. He was careful not to press his own magic to for fear of provoking them further. It was still thick but how he couldn’t imagine, they had been running on empty as it was yet they still managed to have magic to-

Had, had magic. With a pained groan the heavy presence of magic faded and their legs buckled out from under them. Alphys grabbed the monster food they had brought just for giving to them once they woke while Red and Blue rushed in to catch them. Soft rattling still emanated from their bones and they flinched from contact, Sans swore he heard a defeated sob. Granted the circumstance might look a little bad but surely they could tell they were only trying to help. Normal monsters didn’t react this way to doctors or scientists and it made his soul ache at where this skeleton might have picked up on the distrust. 

“ H-h-here e-eat this. ” Alphys procured a cinna-bunny and offered it.

The skeleton protested weakly, unable to lift their arms they turned their head away.

“ **Oh for the love of- gimme that** ,” Red snactched the monster food up and sifted the skeleton to sit up more in one of his arms. They gasped which he took full advantage of and stuffed the bunny rather roughly in their mouth causing them to cough and sputter.

“ EASY THERE RED. ” Blue’s eyelights were still large but stern.

“ **It ain’t poison.. It’s ridiculous not taking offered help with the state you’re in** .” His voice was gravely as he half sneered with aggravation. He grunted hoisting the skeleton up and turned to walk out of the lab room.

“ What Is Your Name Fellow Skeleton? ” Blue asked as calmly as he could.

He and Sans watched the skeleton blanch, their sockets were lidded and dark grey green circles had begun to form under their eyes, the toll of their magic expenditure taking effect. Alphys and Red had a brief exchange trying to find a bed to place them as they turned down another corridor. Alphys pressed her claw to a scanner allowing them to pass through.

“ Heya pal, don’t leave us hangin’. You got a name right? ” Sans noted how their skull rocked to the side fighting off attempts to pass out. Red laid them gently into one of the spare beds in the room hand still holding their head up. Carefully Sans grabbed their chin and pulled it down popping in a monster candy.

“ **Maybe it’s shit.. Coz I ain’t gonna lie that’s what they’re lookin’ like** ,” said Red his brow furrowing.

In a very weak voice they managed a reply. “.. Claire ,” they mumbled before their eyes finally closed and their head lolled to the side.

Alphys gathered a crash kit from the hallway and handed Sans the large needle while she set up a drip of magical solution. Red’s face gained a dusting of cherry as he scratched his jaw then opted to leave. He was going to finish shutting down the machine, you know like how you’re supposed to so random bullshit doesn’t happen and Blue went with him. Sans ignored the jab at him knowing full well Red just wanted to leave cause needles made him squeamish. Carefully Sans conjured up their soul and eased his hand through the side of the gown. He used his blue magic to keep from touching the soul and with practiced ease inserted the needle and let the soul slip back into the rib cage. He removed the clamp letting the solution flow down the tube then he attached one other machine to them which was the equivalent of a human vital signs monitor. It kept track of the soul how it pulsed the type of magic being taken in and put out, what levels were being maintained and would alert them if their soul was getting weaker. 

Both he and Alphys got calls from the king and queen asking for any new or different take on the events and of course to please keep them posted. When Alphys offered to rotate watches Sans just waved her off about it. Everything was legitimately settled now Red and Blue could go back to the house and inform the others about the day and there was nothing he couldn’t handle here on his own. Heck if everything continued as it was they would be healthy enough to get some answers later in the day.

“ You should head on out too you’ve really worked yourself to the bone ,” he joked. She wasn’t swayed though and protested he had done just as much work and that he looked even more beat than she did. “ Aww I’m hurt you’re really ‘beat-in’ me up about it. Guess you saw right through me which is easy since I got no skin .” He winked and gave a lazy shrug plopping down in a chair next to the bed, “ But seriously I can handle it. Go home Alphys I’ll call if anything comes up. ” To emphasize he took his phone out and gave it a playful wiggle before setting it down on the nightstand.

Once alone Sans snatched an extra pillow from from the closet in the room and set it behind his head as he leaned back in the chair. A heavy sigh escaped him both burdensome and relieving. Today had been hell he thought as he closed his sockets. He racked his mind for how things had started. He could clearly see the table with his notes, that they read simple calibration equations. All he had done was turn the machine on and ran a few output tests so how in the world did something have the information needed to come through? His thoughts wandered to an awful idea where maybe in the least he could see something trying to come through and getting torn down to literal atoms because from wherever this skeleton had come from had not received any information on where to ‘stop’. Or they could of received half a skeleton while even somewhere else would of gotten the other half.  _ Ugh _ , that one made him shiver. After self healing they had tried to wake them up but nothing worked so Alphys had suggesting bring them to the lab. From there they observed their health and ran a few tests that yielded absolutely nothing. Last had been this technically successful attempt at waking them but they still had no information.

Until they woke, they would have no clue about them. Where they were from, what they did, their age, their capabilities… Sans cracked a socket at the sleeping skeleton. Thanks to the magic in the solution they had begun to look a lot better. Although the more he looked the more something seemed off about the small skeleton. Certain the overhead light wouldn’t wake them, Sans turned on the light and scooted closer to the side of the bed. The jaw wasn’t fused like his and reminded him of how Paps jaw was. It was a small jawline however and fit just under the small rounded cheekbones and amazingly the crack that had been there had completely faded.

_ Hold on… _ Sans squinted leaning even closer examining their face closer. If he shifted a little, he could see the faintest of lines over the eye socket. His soul suddenly felt heavy, like it had turned to stone and shifted down into the pit where his stomach would be if he had one. He fumbled through his lab coat’s pocket and held his glasses up to his face. There were more thin cracks all over the crown of the skull, cheeks, and jawline. It was as if they had run through a spiders web and had tiny gossamer threads all over them. Any untouched bone was a soft cream color and when he held his own hand up to it, he could tell it held the slightest of green tint to it, but the hairline cracks almost shined like pearl dust. 

Easily as he dared Sans uncovered the skeletons arm near him and gently held it up into the light feeling that same dull throbbing from his soul.  _ There are so many...  _ There was no way to tell which tiny fractures had been newer or older only that they clearly covered every bone. His hands shakely snatched off his glasses as he sat back, “ What happened to you? ” he asked barely above a whisper. Slight guilt hit him as he pondered if he should check them or not. Were these battle scars? Did they even have a war in their timeline? What if these were from fights with other monsters like in Fell? Not seeing a way around it, he sat up and focused.

  
  


** _: Claire :_ **

** _Lv 1 HP 40/ 40_ **

** _ATK 15 EXP: 0 _ **

** _DEF 45 _ **

** _~Feels like they’ve been hit by a truck. ~Really hates labs. ~Scared to death._ **

Sans leaned back closing his sockets and used his palms to rub hard circles into his temples. At least they weren’t a killer he thought relaxing his head into the pillow more. His thoughts raced for another hour before sleep finally took him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a later update, spent my birthday at my parents. BUT here's chapt 3. Lil bit of language. Seems like Claire might wake up for real this time. Time for small decisions, baby steps Claire ;D. Also this is fine, totally fine... maybe not fine.

Chapter 3  
*Claire’s POV*

Claire’s bones hurt, hell her soul hurt. First thing she saw was the tube then the blinding white lights, next was the quiet, that awful dulled void of sound dying before it reached her ears. She was terrified, they were going to use her just like before, just like in the war. Images darted before her in a frantic dream. The monster that tricked her, the other scientists, all those tests… they were breaking her, ripping her apart. _Please no! Not again!_ Suddenly the world lurched and she felt like being squeezed into a tiny ball before popping back to reality. The urge to vomit washed over her as she fell forward to catch herself on her knees.Only that had been a bad idea since there were no knees to catch instead she went reeling head over heels into the void. _Oh stars please make it stop…_

For a short moment she was home. The comforting familiar smells of her apartment wrapped her in a blanket of ease. If she tried hard enough she could hear the rumble of passing vehicles or the stray animal fighting in the alley below her building. The tiniest hint of unease was rising in what would be her stomach. _It was just a nightmare, go back to sleep. Everything is fine.. You’re fine._ Then she heard muffled voices. Who would be in her apartment? No not in her apartment, they had to be in their own apartments or maybe out in the hall, yeah that was it. A light tingling ran across her chest, it itched. Claire furrowed her brow still trying to fight waking up. _Just breathe slowly empty your mind you’ll go back to sleep, it’s fine. Everything's fine.You’re f- OW!!_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Hot magic raced through her bones, stars it felt like her chest would explode. But she couldn’t move it was like she was locked into place, every joint was stiff and unwilling to move. In a panic she through a barrier up then opened her sockets. The room was spinning again. _Ugh… W-which way is up?_ She was aware there were monsters close by, too close. All but one were skeletons, the last was a lizard or something- _Not important._

“STAY BACK!” She yelled as her vision swam. Her legs shook terribly hardly keeping her upright. One skeleton was getting closer saying something but apparently her legs weren’t the only thing not working. Claire threw on the most venomous face she could muster and just hoped she looked threatening as she poured more magic into the space around her.

“You! Where am I?” She demanded. Stars was she drunk? Her mouth felt stuffed with some odd meaty thing. “I’m in a lab? Oh good-” That was it, she was done.

Being drained of magic felt like getting hit full on by a truck. Finally her legs gave out and she slumped into a useless heap on the floor. A set of hands grabbed her, bones crawling at the contact of more scientists touching her. No tears came this time as she cried. _I’ll never get out…. I’ll die here. Please let me die here._ She was shifted up suddenly sending pain arching down from her skull to her tailbone. She cried out briefly then nearly choked as something was stuffed in her mouth. She coughed and sputtered not wanting to eat, it would only keep her alive just long enough for the next test.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claire woke to find herself in a bed, not the one in her apartment so unfortunately this all was still very real. Was she still in the lab? The only place she slept before when in a lab was on a hard table or much worse. And why was she not in pain? She could feel a dull ache but everything worked, everything moved she could even feel for the first time in a long time the magic of her soul hum. Claire slowly opened her sockets checking the room. When she saw no one she shot up checking the room more thoroughly. Small nodes were stuck to her and hooked to a monitor that beeped softly by her bed. There were a few other beds in here separated by thin curtains but held no other occupants and there was one large closet near the end of the room next to of course the door. Her soul did a flip. _A door. Door. DOORDOORDOORDOOR RUN!_ Claire snatched the sticky instruments off her bones then immediately noticed the now empty bag next to the bed and grimaced. Soul needles always gave her a sick feeling when they were removed. Quickly and quietly she removed the needle giving a horrible shudder when it finally came out.

No alarms were going off, matter of fact the only beeping was from the machine that had been attached to her which was alerting it had no feedback but even then it was much too quiet for anyone not in the room to hear. Much to her pleasure she wasn’t naked even though a hospital gown offered little in the form of clothes. The door wasn’t even shut! Claire scooted to the edge right where it cracked open and peeked out, her soul was pounding loudly in her skull. The room had been dark and she had been alone, now the hallway was dark and seemingly abandoned. What was the possibility this was a trap? _Fuck it._ The door swung open blessedly quiet as she darted down the hall. She ignored the random closed doors opting to follow the turn of the hallway where her luck would run out.

Her mind raced at the obstacle before her._ Fuck! Shit! Ever loving mother fuc-_ Every curse word she knew played through her thoughts. Clearly this had been the right way since this door was doubled, reinforced, and needed a pass code of some kind to get through. Maybe she could blast it open? Yeah like that wouldn’t make noise and alert EVERYONE to her escape. The dim light coming from the other side sifted and she could see through the glass as a shadow moved across the wall. _Shit!_ Someone was coming, it was now or never. Claire ducked to the side hoping she was hidden just enough to make a break for it when the door opened. _3….2….1….!_ The door booped from the other side and slid open and as soon as the monster on the other side was clear Claire broke for it. She made it just a few feet from them then pushed her magic out knocking them back and vaulting over them.

They had cried out in shock or whatever but Claire could have cared less as she pelted it down the hall. It opened up to a larger area with small open rooms with no doors what looked like a break room or waiting room. Panic drove her and where her soul pulled she went, first left then down another hall. _Fuck!_ There was a large machine in the room that passed her right and other like examining rooms but no exit. She turned back and had barely made the corner when her soul jumped nearly out of her chest. In the dim hallway was a skeleton glowing from the one eye. She tried to scream but found herself cut off no sooner had she started.

“Hey now calm down,” they said. She stood glued to the spot. Why couldn’t she move? Were they doing that? Stars above she was rattling again. “I’m not gonna hurt ya.” Claire snorted, cheap words from someone in a lab coat. She could see clearly now their hand glowing blue as they raised them both up like they were surrendering. Noticing how she eyed them, they shrugged then started slipping off the coat. “Might be brew-tiful to some but somehow I just can’t pull off the coffee stained look. Except for when I do you know pull it off,” he chuckled lowly tossing the stained coat down. “Look I’m gonna let you go now. Let’s just stay calm. My name is Sans, Sans the Skeleton.”

They had a deep voice that drawled pleasantly and an easy laugh, clearly this was a trick, he was trying to stall. He kept his hands raised but he did release his magic. Her rattling all but stopped though she didn’t make a move yet rather she balled her hands into fists and squinted eyeing him suspiciously. She shot her gaze around him and down the hall, they were still alone and he was still blocking the way. Damn her she still didn’t want to fight but she had to escape! She didn’t have time for these feelings to get in the way, she needed decisions now.

Sans sighed heavily rubbing the back of his skull with one hand, “Look my brother was going to bring some spare clothes and something to eat it’s... actually not long until he’s supposed to be here. I can imagine you don’t want to go out like that,” he said vaguely gesturing towards Claire. “I’ve got a spare jacket and if you’re that determined… I can show you the way out?”

Claire relaxed just a bit cocking her skull to the side. Clothes- Why was he offering her clothes? She had been in a gown or mercilessly naked, no one had cared for her decency before. And more people were coming, a family member… none of this was making sense. _Wait did he just say he was going to let me leave?_ Realization spread across her face followed quickly by shock and confusion.

“What?”

“You’re not trapped here. You’re no body’s prisoner,” Sans paused a moment giving Claire a look she couldn’t quite place, “Do you know why you’re here?” Claire’s eye lights went out causing Sans to throw his hands up again, “Whoa now it’s nothing that bad. I mean … maybe it is but, what I mean to say is you basically had an accident? And wouldn’t wake up so we… uh my friends and I brought you here to help.”

“An accident? So you brought me to a lab… to help? You and…. A bunch of other scientists? ” Claire was eyeing him suspiciously but had relaxed a great deal. The fact she found herself at such ease was causing her to question her own sanity but on the other hand this encounter was going about 1000% differently than any had before.

“Well Alphys is the scientist. I may be smart but my specialities lie in bad jokes and lazing around. Last time I checked there’s not much call in the field for monsters of my talents.” Sans had a smile that didn’t seem to leave his face and if it were possible it turned up more. He scratched his nasal bone and glanced off to the side, “But yeah uh you want to get outta here? Trying to show ya some good faith,” he said stepping to the side opening enough room for Claire to pass if she wanted. He had hooked a thumb back the way they came but offered his other hand to Claire.

She didn’t take his hand but did move to step around him again eyeing him a bit and took her time to answer. “Yes.”

Sans had commented the time being somewhere around nine-ish once they made it outside and instead of a lab coat Claire snagged an extra blanket to wrap around herself. They stood in silence while the night sky loomed overhead. Sans was typing something on his phone and keeping a respectable distance while Claire processed what they had talked about on the walk out. Her gaze wandered over the premises, a road entered to the left and forked off behind the building while the other side continued in a circle out in front then left back out the same way. Large lights read ‘NHMT’ for Newest Home Monster Tech according to Sans.

Claire nervously picked at one of her carpal bones as her thoughts wandered. So she had somehow been pulled through the universe -or was it reality, into Sans’ shed. A happening that apparently left her pretty banged up none of which she remembered. Then she had been unconscious worrying everyone, put through a test in hopes of being revived which worked but… but. Claire looked up into the night sky noting the stars, they looked familiar there was the big dipper, Orion, and other such stars. Cars didn’t float around all sci fi like although cell phones were a thing, that was new which was only because the year was off, horribly off. She had kept the information to herself about what year she remembered it being but she got the sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Sans had said other than her name they knew nothing about her or where she came from. She could tell he didn’t want to press the issue right now maybe because of the stress she had been through but one doesn’t simply fall through a plane of existence and not expect questions.

Sans snapped his phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket. “So Paps will be here in another few minutes.” He rocked back on his heels and kicked at nothing on the ground, “I guess the next question for now would be if you wanted to stay here for the night or-”

“No.” Claire snapped. She coughed sheepishly hugging the blanket around herself more tightly, “Uh...Sorry, no I don’t.”

Sans nodded in agreement, “Yeah I didn’t think so. There are a few options one being Alphys has a spare room for you should you want to stay with her for a bit. Another being Toriel or Asgore would be more than likely to take you in until something more permanent came up. Lastly is there’s plenty of room at my place since that’s where you ‘dropped’ in at anyways. We get visitors a lot these days, so staying in one of the extra rooms wouldn’t be a problem.”

Alyphs was that scientist right? Sans said she had helped her but Claire wasn’t willing to take the chance of staying at their house. Even though Sans had tried to reassure her everyone was really just trying to help, she didn’t want to take any additional risks. She just hoped she hadn’t come across as blatantly hateful or at least ungrateful for the help. “Who are Toriel and Asgore?” Claire asked shifting.

“Oh Asgore and Toriel are the king and queen of monster kind.” Claire’s sockets went wide at how casually he mentioned it. “No Toriel or Asgore in your timeline?” He quirked a socket.

_Shit that’s right he doesn’t know anything about my life or…’timeline’_ “Uh no? ...There is no king or queen that rule over monsters even,” Claire trailed off and it was Sans’ turn to look shocked. At least he didn’t ask anything further, yet.

They had barely made it back inside to the breakroom before his brother had arrived with clothes and food. Sans had warned her about how … energetic he was but she felt the warning had fallen horrendously short. He was just so... imposing. Sans was only slightly taller than she was but he was bigger than her in frame, hell her hands were laughable in comparison. But Papyrus… was multiple feet taller, wide set shoulders, and even his voice took up any left over space. He wore the oddest outfit she had ever seen, which was made up of an acid washed denim jacket that hung much to short around his ribs. It was white and covered in patches with tassels across the shoulders, under that was neon green muscle shirt that read ‘Do You Even Lift Bro’. His pants were a pair of camo cargo pants about three sizes too big for him as they were folded up at least twice and ever so baggy all held up by a black belt with bedazzled gems. His shoes were simple enough but were purple and yellow athletic shoes that likewise didn’t match with anything.

“I AM PLEASED TO SEE YOU UP AND DOING SO MUCH BETTER TINY SKELETON!” He spoke lifting Claire into a hug to which she yelped in response much like a cat that had been frightened. Sans gave his brother a look clearly helping him to calm somewhat as he promptly put her back down. “I Mean It Was Quite Startling To See You So Badly Injured And Then Refusing To Wake,” he said a touch softer. “What Is Your Name Small Friend?”

Claire forced a smile at Papyrus’ antics but took a small step back regardless, “It’s Claire.”

Papyrus beamed, “What A Lovely Name! I Am The Great Papyrus And I Have Brought You Some Clothes. I Hope They Are Adequate.” He handed her a package that had been wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string.

Claire turned the package over in her hands and gave Papyrus a small smile, “Uhm thanks. I’ll just go change then.”

“WONDERFUL IN THE MEANTIME I WILL HEAT UP SOME SPAGHETTI. THAT WAY WE CAN ALL HAVE DINNER BEFORE HEADING HOME!” Pap turned to the table where he had set a large paper bag and began taking out stacks of tupperware. Sans threw her a casual wave as she headed out.

Claire made it back to the room she had woken up in and shut the door behind her then took a moment to lean against it. She flicked the lights on and did a quick search of the room even though she knew full well the only people that were in the building were Sans, his brother, and herself. She sighed then pulled one of the curtains around her area shut, still not able to shake the feeling of eyes always being on her. Claire unwrapped the package and laid out the folded clothes giving each item a curious look over. First the item was a sweater that was a faded blue with purple stripes, it felt worn and comfy but looked awful. _Who would wear this?_ Next was a pair of overalls that had one of the buckles missing, a hole in the front pocket, and were shorts. Claire felt her cheekbones burn a bit, these were going to show a lot of bone but perhaps it was better than a gown. Looking down, Claire frowned as the gown hung loosely over her shoulders but was low enough to at least cover her knees still, she felt very exposed. A pair of thin cotton mary janes had been folded in the center between the two articles of clothing. Turning over the brown paper Claire checked for anything else, finding nothing she leaned onto the bed and huffed quietly. No undershirt, no socks, no pants, no gloves, no beanie, no any headwear… oh yeah this was great. Whatever! Claire quickly stripped and hurried into the clothes quick to get rid of the feeling of cool air on her bare bones. Green spread brightly across her cheek bones as she rubbed one of her arms through the sweater, grateful for lack of mirror as she was sure she wouldn’t like what the reflection would hold.

Papyrus was still animatedly hurrying around the small break room by the sounds of things as Claire approached from down the hall. Her feet felt cold up against the floor, unfortunately the shoes were too small normally she didn’t mind going without but not when around others. She heard Sans’ low voice before even making it to the door, she couldn’t quite make out what he was saying but it seemed like a gentle chastising. When she appeared at the door things stilled for a bit making her shift uneasily thankfully Papyrus broke the tension.

“AS I EXPECTED! THOSE CLOTHES FIT YOU VERY WELL CLAIRE!” Papyrus’ eyelights sparkled for a moment then turned onto Sans, “I TOLD YOU FRISK’S CLOTHES WOULD BE A BETTER MATCH!”

“She’s not a babybones Paps, or well at least I don’t think she’s a babybones?” Claire had pulled out a chair and sat at the other end of the table only slightly confused at the face Sans had given her. He quirked a socket at her one side of his smile inching higher, “Well you’re not a kid right? How old are you?”

“Oh!” Claire mentally slapped her forehead, “Oh no uhm I’m 26. Uhm here Papyrus.” Claire set out the package Papyrus had given her on the table with the shoes on top and fidgeted. “Yes everything fit minus the shoes. But uh what does my age got to do with anything?”

Sans’ face somehow broke into a bigger smile and he nodded to some unspoken que, “Wow who would’a thought-” Papyrus placed a tupperware of warmed spaghetti in front of Sans and cut him off.

“NOW BROTHER PLEASE! SPARE OUR FRIEND YOUR AWFUL PUNS UNTIL SHE AT LEAST HAS SOME FOOD IN HER! THERE ARE EXTRA PAIRS OF SLIPPERS SHE CAN USE UNTIL WE CAN GET HER SHOES.” He placed another in front of Claire and started to hand her a fork but stopped short dropping it on the table. “OH I’M SO SORRY! IT IS ALRIGHT TO CALL YOU A SHE/HER CORRECT? I HAD JUST ASSUMED FROM YOU NAME AND HOW PRETTY YOUR FONT WAS THAT YOU WERE A GIRL.”

Such confusion as she had never felt before washed over her, the face apparently enough to put Sans into a laughing fit that even got a few snorts. Claire’s face flushed a vibrant green with flecks of white as she snatched up her fork, “Yes!... I mean, I know it’s hard to… I don't have... of course I’m a… Just yes.” Claire stabbed her pasta stuffing her mouth full sinking into her sweater more. Sans managed to stop laughing and cleared his throat a bit while he and Papyrus looked at each other awkwardly.

“My bro didn’t mean anything by asking. He likes to be extra sure about some things,” Sans said trying to clear the air.

“It’s fine,” Claire said bluntly taking another large bite not really looking up from the table.

“I just thought it was funny that Frisk’s old clothes would fit you being that you and her are the same a-”

“It’s fine.”

They ate in silence, Claire finished first drawing her feet into the chair with her to wrap her arms around them. Her own thoughts bubbled around erratically before Papyrus spoke up again drawing her attention to the room. He had begun to clean up while Sans was arranging a stack of papers into a messenger bag, “Have You Decided Where It Is You Would Like To Stay?” He spoke much softer now and his eyes were fixed on Claire in an almost pleading manner.

Claire sighed resting her chin on her knees, “Well … I don’t want to stay here and I don’t want to go to this Alphys’ place but… I mean how does one even live with royalty? Are you sure I can’t just stay in a hotel? I don’t have money and I clearly don’t want to put anyone out to pay for a room but I feel like I would be imposing no matter what I do.”

“Nonsense! You Are In Need And We Are More Than Happy To Help. There Are Plenty Of Empty Rooms At Our Home.” Papyrus finished tucking everything away into the bag he brought and was giving Claire a semi hopeful smile.

Claire deflated a bit and looked to Sans who shrugged, “ Mi casa es tu casa.”

Fine. Claire nodded then and got up tugging down lightly on her overalls, “Well if you’re sure then we can... leave and go to your.. House.” Claire thought she had never seen someone light up so much about having her come over in her entire life. Papyrus jumped on the spot and literally clicked his feet together.

The car ride to their home was dominated by Papyrus talking very animatedly about how much she would like it and how he had cleaned and hoped it was to her liking then to the types of rooms or stuff they had. And how to not mind some of the other housemates because they just took some getting used to. Finally they made it, the clock on the dash read 10:43 p.m. According to Sans most everyone would be asleep so they shouldn’t be bothered and could at least get her settled before everyone would want to meet her tomorrow. The first floor of the house was tan brick even the garage, the second floor was sandstone color as was the small attic of a third floor. Well small was an understatement, it looked big enough to be its own studio apartment. The overall feel of the house looked like a beach house mixed with some kind of modern pueblo look. _How many people live here?_

They let themselves in and Papyrus went to the kitchen while Sans gestured for Claire to follow. Most of the house was dimly lit but it wasn’t like walking through pitch. They walked by a sunroom that was either a library or study and by a large staircase which lead up to the floor above from the end of the hallway. Showed her the door between the kitchen and the open frame also at the end of the hall indicating it was a “fake” bathroom. When they got to the stairs he pointed into the open room to the left. It had a mix-matched set of living room furniture scattered about, a corner with some beanbags or other such comfy seats in front of a gaming setup, an absolutely massive entertainment system which was currently streaming some documentary giving the room a dim grey lighting, and large french style door leading to a porch. There was a loud snore that made Sans stop the tour and turned to her with a rather wicked looking grin.

“One second,” he whispered, putting a finger over his teeth. He moved into the room so quiet like it was genuinely impressive as he peeked over the back of one of the couches. He flailed in silent victory grinning even bigger as be bent over slightly out of view. Another moment or two passed and he joined her back in the hall snickering quietly. Again he gestured up the stairs, “ Shall we?” he giggled slyly stuffing something that looked like a marker into his jacket pocket.

Claire eyed him humorously and whispered, “What did you do?”

“Oh nuttin it’ll just be the ‘highlight’ of the morning tomorrow.”

At the top of the stairs Sans pointed to directly opposite walls, “Real bathrooms. There you got Paps’ room, Edge’s, Red’s.” He pointed down the right to the doors on the left. “Those are for Blue, Stretch, and uh...when they’re here Blackberry and ...Rus.” Sans rolled his eyelights a bit at the mention of the last group then strolled down the right way. There was a large open common room that had reading space, a few tables for games and pool table near the center. It had a glass door with blinds built in that looked like it would lead out to a deck. The first door on the right down this way Sans knocked on, “My room’s here, these here on both sides have been claimed by Outer, Science, and G and their bros but they don’t frequent or at least they always send word before just showing up. But if you want there’s still up stairs.” He threw a thumb to another small staircase, “There’s two more unclaimed rooms and a sorta gym. But they are a bit smaller than the other rooms.”

“Wow,” Claire nodded looking down the hall, “I guess one of the unclaimed ones is fine, I don’t wanna mess up anyone’s stuff and I don’t mind small rooms.”

“Yeah its kinda big but with a bro like Paps it helps having the space.” Sans turned and started up the stairs first.

“Well I mean it’s kinda like where I lived,” Claire said making idle conversation following him up.  
“Heh really? Lived in a mansion full of alternate you’s before?”

“Oh ha no, I mean with all the rooms I guess it was a lot more cramped though. It was a boarding house for- ...uh well let’s say for the not well off.” Sans had tilted his head to the side and was looking at her a bit concerned. “Oh it wasn’t like that I mean it leaked a little but it was home,” she joked rubbing her neck. _I’m...not making it sound better._

“Well these here are free and the closet there has any extra bed stuffs. So just pick whichever and make yourself at home.” Claire rubbed her arm through her sweater while Sans rocked back on his heels.

“Uh thanks,” she replied sheepishly starting for the closet.

“R-right yeah g’night.”

Claire picked out a thin comforter then headed back to the last room and was going to ask about any thing expected of her for tomorrow but he was already gone. The room on the end was bare bones hosting just the bed, end table, and a small closet. The floor here was wooden but had a large thick shag rug. Claire pulled the sheets into place over the mattress then tossed the comforter haphazardly on before strolling to the closet. It was empty, not really a surprise there, then she checked the night stand. It had a tiny drawer with nothing in it and nothing under it so she checked the window. She slid the latches open and pushed it up with ease peeking out of it once satisfied shut it then locked it. Flicking her light off she paced about the room idly thinking about her predicament. Maybe she hadn’t been transported to a different time and space. Maybe there was no 80 year leap into the future. Maybe she had just...somehow been teleported. That could happen right? Weird science shit had weird science answers right?

She stopped pacing long enough to lean in to the door and listen, it didn’t sound like anyone was outside it. She locked it quickly then went back to pacing. No one had actually tried to hurt her.. _Yet._ She had been nursed back to health, fed, clothed, given a place to stay. And although there were so many questions without answers she couldn’t really condemn any of them after all she had been avoidant of their questions too. But how did she get here? Claire touched the door knob giving it a soft jiggle. _Still locked._ The longer she thought about it the more upset she made herself. She passed the window noticing the latches were still down. She had hunkered down and hidden after the war, hell she had even moved MILES away from where they had dropped off her kind. Her pacing picked up and when she passed the door she touched the knob again giving it a jiggle. _Still locked..._ She lucked out meeting Bruno who had tipped her off about the boarding house and again with the odd jobs she could do but there had still been scares when she thought they might have found her. She shot a look at the window, the latches were still down. She made it back to the door and touched the knob. _Still locked._ Yet still that skeleton found her, that liar, that **scientist**, that...that _Oooo! He tricked her in the worst way!_ Of course there had been no veterans, of course he wasn’t trying to help others like her. He just wanted to study her just like the others, she was new, she was odd, she wasn’t worth life, liberty, or pursuit of anything. Her fingers found the latches at the window which were still snuggly in place.

Her bones had begun to rattle so she stopped her pacing and wiped away tears she didn’t know had started to form. How long had she been there? How much longer could she have been there? She shuddered then walked quickly to the door and tugged on it hard. _Still locked… calm down._ Her breathing began to hitch and she couldn’t seem to stop shaking. She kept trying the knob, it twisted and clicked but never opened. _Still locked just breath…_ She threw herself into the bed and sat up wrapping the comforter around herself tightly and counted. _1..2..3.4..?_ How many times had she checked? Was it five, it had to have been five. _That’s right five calm down. The door is locked. Just calm down. Everything's fine, you’re fine._ She began rocking in place, an unshakable cold or fear creeping over her that didn’t care how tightly she had wrapped up. Everything was **not** fine. Claire choked biting down on her finger under the thin comforter trying to gain control over herself. She had been teleported or sent somehow to this new place, she had been with Gaster and those other scientists. Anybody he would have sent her to could not be anybody she wanted to be near either. She bit down harder hoping the pain would clear her mind but the tears came anyway. She buried her skull into the blankets and sobbed uncontrollably.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first day at skelebros house. once again Claire breath... and stop being so dam suspicious!
> 
> I will say this took forever because i wrote half at my folks place then the other half at home x-x apologizes if it doesn't flow right because of this. Also i condensed a good bit of it so have a more detailed explanation in a later chapter.

***Claire POV***

The first light of dawn started creeping over the property and in through the window of Claire’s room. She lay awake but just barely and sighed. She had cried herself dry sometime around two that morning, maybe clocked about an hour or hour and a half nap before bouncing between barely awake or barely asleep. In the brief time she had been asleep her dreams were filled with nightmares. Groggily she pushed herself up, phantom sounds of pain filled groans and gunfire plaguing the otherwise calm of morning. She readied her room out of old trained habit, folding and tucking the corners into a tightly made bed as if for inspection. Then she paced the room once again sleepily checking its safety before heading out. Most of the house was quiet which was a bit off putting since back home there would have been many getting ready to leave for work while others would have been just returning. She tried calming herself, after all war time was over and lots of people slept in to normal decent hours. She made it to the kitchen and started the coffee, inwardly grumbling about having to climb onto the counter to even reach the cabinets. While she waited she washed her face in the sink turning the water on as hot as it would go.

Claire noticed the kitchen, dining room, and living room flowed into each other in a very open floor plan. They were like everything else about the house, very tall and wide once again drawing her thoughts as to how many people could actually fit in one room. Papyrus was the first to get up and make their way down to the kitchen. Even though she had not greeted him when he entered the room, Claire had not thought she was being overly sneaky, sitting out in the open as she was but apparently that was not accurate. Papyrus jumped nearly out of his bright orange onesie and placed a hand over his chest.

“ CLAIRE GOOD MORNING! I AM NOT USED TO HAVING COMPANY THIS EARLY !” His face changed quickly from being startled to positively ecstatic. “ DO YOU ALWAYS WAKE THIS EARLY? I GET UP TO START COFFEE AND BREAKFAST FOR MY LAZY BROTHER THEN HAVE MY MORNING RUN! THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN NOT BE GREAT AFTER ALL UNLESS THE DAY STARTS GREAT. IT ONLY COMPOUNDS FROM THERE YOU SEE? ” He added with a wink.

Claire winced a bit at his morning volume but was happy to have the sound of his voice. It was by far more pleasant than the others currently on repeat. “ G’morning Papyrus. ” Claire stifled a yawn, “ No. I usually get up around 9 or 10 but uh I guess being in a new place kinda had me waking up early. ” She finished the last of her coffee feeling happy about how she worded how her night had gone.

Papyrus casually took her mug and refilled it, “ I SEE. ” Though, Claire hadn’t missed how he eyed her as he turned away, “ SO HOW DID YOU SLEEP... WAS THE BED ALRIGHT?”

_ Dammit _ ...Claire schooled her face to be as passive as she could and reached for the cream and sugar at the center of the table, “ Everything was fine. Bed was plenty comfy .”

“ HMM… GOOD. WE WILL GO SOON TO SEE ABOUT GETTING THINGS FOR THE ROOM AND CLOTHES FOR YOU .”

Claire blushed softly as Papyrus worked around the kitchen, trying to kid herself was something she had gotten good at but apparently she needed more work if she was going to fool Papyrus. “ Oh I don’t really need anything for the room, ” Claire started picking at the handle of her mug. “ Although I hate to put anyone out I would like some different clothes .” Claire again looked at the shorts frowning at how much of her legs bones they showed.

“ NONSENSE YOU ARE PUTTING NO ONE OUT. THIS IS OUR HOME AND AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS IT SIMPLY WOULD NOT TO DO TO HAVE A GUEST GO WITHOUT PROPER ROOM FURNISHINGS OR CLOTHES! AND I PAPYRUS AM THE GREATEST HOST !” Papyrus excused himself for a moment but returned after no time at all and had changed. 

Claire nearly choked on her coffee and had to bury her face in her hands. Papyrus was now wearing bright orange running shorts with white stripes down the sides, a sleeveless shirt that said “JOG BOY”, the same bright running shoes, and matching orange wrist and headbands. He hummed happily to himself as he placed a large mushroom shaped chefs hat atop his skull and tied a frilly pink and yellow apron around himself that said “It’s not burnt. It’s just crispy. '' Green burned across her face. How could he wear something so revealing? It was his own body of course if he felt comfortable then congratulations to him but Claire just couldn’t comprehend dressing that way. 

“ HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BREAKFAST SPAGHETTI ?” Papyrus asked enthusiastically. He had really begun to move around the kitchen banging and clanging as he went about preparing and cooking breakfast.

“ Buh...Breakfast… Spaghetti?  ” 

“ NYEH HEH HEH I SEE THAT IT IS SO AMAZING YOU ARE SPEECHLESS BEFORE EVEN TRYING IT !” Papyrus held his mitted hand up in a fist striking a quick victory pose before setting in to cooking with even more vigor. 

“ Everything you make is amazing bro ,” chimed in a sleepy Sans. His eyes were only half open as he waved good morning then shuffled over to the cabinets for his mug. “ I’d go as far as to say it’s egg-septional. ” He dodged a bit noodle that went flying from the spatula Papyrus was cooking with as his brother chastised him for making puns so early. Sans had on a loose fitting white t-shirt, a pair of black shorts with a white stripe down the side and a pair of fluffy pink slippers.

“ SANS IF YOU ARE GOING TO START WAKING UP JUST TO FIT IN MORE TERRIBLE PUNS THEN GO BACK TO BED !” Papyrus huffed starting on chopping bacon with such gusto that was matched only by the effort he was spending on ignoring Sans. 

He reached into the fridge and started adding something to his coffee then sat next to Claire on one of the bar stools. He leaned in to speak quietly, “ My puns aren’t terrible. Paps just doesn't want to admit they tickle his funny bone .” 

“ Is...is that Ketchup ?” Claire looked mortified at the bright red bottle he had set next to his cup. He didn’t? Surely he did NOT put ketchup in his coffee. He gave a lazy wink and shrugged taking a good swig of his coffee.

“ SAAAAANNNSSS! ” 

“ **Geez how’s a guy sapposed to get any sleep ‘round here** ?” Growled another skeleton who literally appeared out of thin air at the end of the table.

Claire felt her spine stiffen at the sudden intrusion. A cloud of red smoke started to dissipate as the burrly skeleton stepped through it. He wore a red turtleneck, black jogging shorts with a yellow stripe, and didn’t have any shoes but his feet were covered with red socks. His eyes glowed a threatening red color and like Sans sported bags under his eyes not to mention he too had a low rumbly voice. Claire didn’t feel at ease when this skeleton spoke however. He was a bit taller and had much bigger, thicker bones than Sans. All of this and sharp teeth with an accompanying golden tooth was the only thing that set the two apart, otherwise they would have looked like twins.

“ Ay way to go sleeping beauty. Think you scared our new friend here right out of her skin ,” Sans said shaking his head draining his coffee. “ Thats Red, a real ray of sunshine .” Sans yawned then laid his skull on his arms nearly instantly falling asleep.

Red face dusted a tint of red, “ **Oh uh sorry I uh… didn’t know they had brought you back yet.** ”

“ **OF COURSE YOU DIDN’T YOU LAZYBONES** ,” boomed another voice coming down the stairs. “ **YOU WOULD HAVE IF YOU HAD BOTHERED TO CHECK YOUR PHONE OR EVEN GONE TO BED LIKE. NOT. AN IDIOT** .” Another Papyrus looking skeleton strode into the kitchen, this one clearly the brother of Red. He wore a black satin pajama set with red pinstripes buttoned all the way minus the top two buttons and wore a pair of black house shoes. He shared the same towering height that Papyrus had only like Red was just a bit taller. His cheekbones were sharply pronounced, his teeth were also very pointy and threatening, and he sported a gruesome looking gash over his right socket. He gave his brother a very dissatisfied glare then sat elegantly in one of the stools at the table. He fixed his gaze solely on Claire making her feel very exposed. 

“ **I WOULD APOLOGIZE FOR MEETING MY BROTHER THIS WAY, FIRST IMPRESSIONS TEND TO SET THE TONE FOR FUTURE INTERACTIONS.** ” He shot a sideways glance to Red who had begun to sweat nervously and fidget. “ **HOWEVER HE DOES TEND TO BLUNDER ABOUT, AS SUCH YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN HIS REGARD, BETTER TO HAVE IT ALL OUT IN THE OPEN NOW I SUPPOSE. I, HOWEVER AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS. BUT FOR CONVENIENCE YOU MAY CALL ME EDGE.** ”

Sans gave a short snore but otherwise didn’t stir from sleep. Claire tapped the side of her mug making it tink gently about five times then gave a sheepish smile, “ Uh....good morning then. ” She tipped her skull to Edge and Red. Perhaps, she thought she was finally getting her nerves to calm down a bit when there was a loud crash from over head. 

“ BROTHER WAKE UP OUR NEW HOUSE GUEST IS HERE !”

Claire pressed her still hot mug of coffee to her skull right between her sockets then closed them trying to focus on breathing. The warmth soaked into her bones nicely easing the partial throbbing in her skull. How many loud talkers did this house have? By the time she opened her sockets there was another Sans coming down the stairs. He bounded over the last three then hurried to his seat. Blessedly this excited skeleton hadn’t invaded her space even if it would have been for just a hug. 

“ Good Morning Everyone And A Specially Good One To You Claire! ” He said bouncing in his seat. His voice was only marginally softer than Papyrus’ or Edges. This skeleton was about an inch or so shorter than Sans and shared the same skull shape and markers but seemed a bit smaller in frame. He wore a sky blue shirt that he filled out well, a pair of matching sleep pants with white stars dotted all over them, and tan house shoes. His eyelights were a pair of bright blue stars and even though they were pretty to look at, it had to be the oddest thing Claire had seen from a skeleton monster. 

“ Uhm good morning. Who are you? ” 

“ Ah Yes I Am Sans. Sans The Magnificent But Everyone Calls Me Blue. We Met Briefly When You Woke The Other Day ,” he said with a large Sans worthy smile. 

“ We did? ” Claire sipped her coffee. She was pretty certain the only people she had met yesterday had been Sans and Papyrus

“ Yes, As A Matter Of Fact Red And I Were Both There Helping Sans And Dr. Alphys To Wake You. Thanks to Red’s Calculations We Were Successful And It Was The Safest Method We Had. I Am Quiet Sorry If It Pained You Overly Much .”

Claire felt her chest itch again at his statement as the vague memory of waking up for a short moment came back to her. Less vaguely she remembered how painful it had been, how her bones had locked up, and of course the panic. “ I see. ” Her face held a schooled smile but her hands gripped her mug tighter. “ You and Red were helping Alphys. ”

Red shifted in his seat looking a bit nervous at being ratted out and shot a quick glance to Sans who had woken up. Most everyone tensed excepted for Sans who had placed a hand over Claire’s mug and pushed it back down onto the table. She just noticed he was giving her a weak smile along with an inquisitive look. Had she done something, was she shaking again? “ Yes, ” she cleared her throat and blinked a few times, “ How nice. ”

“ Mornin ,” called another skeleton. He shuffled his way into the kitchen and sat next to Blue. He wore an orange hoodie, long sleep pants covered in skull and cross bones, and bunny slippers. He was another Papyrus but other than his face and height didn’t act like one. His voice was much calmer and he sat with the same sleepy look on his face that Sans did.

“ This Is Papyrus Or Well My Brother Stretch ,” Blue said. “ No Hoodies At The Table Stretch! ” Blue gently swatted the hoodie down and gave his brother a few pokes in the ribs. “ Stretch This Is Claire, She Is Joining Us For Breakfast Remember? ” Blue placed his fists on his hips and puffed his chest out becoming more flustered at his brothers lack of manners. 

“ YES AND WHAT A BREAKFAST IT IS! ” Chimed in Papyrus. He began to pass plates out heaped with breakfast spaghetti. There were bits of bacon, egg, and cheese covering the buttery noodles that looked and smelled delicious. 

Stretch having just noticed who his brother was mentioning gave a start then mumbled a weak good morning before huddling into his plate. Orange dusted his cheekbones while he sheepishly picked at his food only stealing the occasional glance up. Claire let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in as morning conversation picked up. Zoning out for a minute, she listened to how everyone interacted. Maybe this was normal, maybe they were normal, maybe out of some lucky cosmic alignment she really had been sent to somewhere safe. Sans still had a hand over her mug and leaned in with a gentle smile.

“ Coming back from orbit? Take some coffee maybe to keep ya ‘grounded’ ,” he joked.

“ Just water s’fine .” Claire poked at her own plate, it was very good as far as breakfast spaghetti went. There wasn’t much she thought that could be made into a breakfast outside of maybe sandwiches and such so it’s oddness was balanced out by its taste. 

Everyone chatted enjoying the morning. Claire even started to feel relaxed as Blue and Papyrus went out of their way to include her in bits of the conversation. The peace was short lived however, as Sans and Red engaged in a pun battle resulting in three thrown half empty plates of spaghetti with both Paps and Edge threatening bodily harm to their respective Sans’ unless they settled. Edge made Red clean bits of noodle, bacon, and egg form off the chairs and walls while Pap stuck Sans with dish duty. When everything had calmed back down Sans asked how she wanted to proceed since there were many questions needing answers, there was no need for it to be too awkward for her.

Claire started out awkwardly enough offering up basic information. Everyone of course knew her name by now but she was 26, lived in a crowded boarding house, and didn’t have a legitimate job. Instead she worked where people would pay in cash, not ask too many questions, and be short, sweet, and easy to complete. It hadn’t taken Sans long to bring up more important topics, after all they needed to know what the timeline was like in her world. She had successfully answered their questions without giving away too much unnecessary information. But when it came time to go over what had happened in the current reality she was in, things started to get tense. The monsters here had been imprisoned underground for nearly 1000 years which had been alot for her to process. That and it was supposed to be thanks to the mages when mages and monsters in her life had been closer to each other than humans. The worst part of it was when Sans mentioned souls, they each took turns reciting some old story they all seemed to know. A monster could take in not just one but multiple human souls to become a god and it was this knowledge that made humans so fearful of monsters.

Being hit with that information triggered a very bad panic attack. For certain Gaster had sent her through that machine to here for the purpose of being studied. No one knew monsters had this kind of power back home yet here she was a result of the exact thing that had been the linchpin of their war. They already had her outnumbered, the right facilities needed, and no way for her to return home without their aid. Her magic had flared on its own accord when the realization hit her of how much danger she could be in. It took Papyrus breaking her out of her own thoughts for her to see she wasn’t stuck as a science experiment. Maybe if she tried hard enough she could believe them, that they really had nothing to do with being sent here and that maybe she could trust them. How could they trust her though if she wasn’t even willing to tell them the truth about what she was? She had never had this many strangers be so willing to help her, it was really grating on her to be hiding so much from them.

Claire sat outside on the deck hugging herself mulling over the events of breakfast. Something about this place was really getting to her. She felt awful for having an episode on literal day one of being at Sans’ house. She rubbed her arms despite it being warm out, she hadn’t had such a bad reaction before. Damn her for jumping to conclusions! If she did even want to make it out of here, maybe not back to her timeline but just out on her own again she would have to cope better than this. She remembered what Red told her when everyone started to shuffle out.

“ **Look I get it. Life sucks sometimes but you need help, have you seen someone?** ” He had asked walking with her up the stairs. Well no she never had the chance to go get checked out after the war. “ **Yeah well, this place has got some pretty helpful folks.** ” Claire brough her hand up to the pocket in her overalls where she put the card he’d given her. It was for a mental health institute near here. “ **Don’t think too much on it toots. Just get some help or ya’noe you can talk to me. I may not know bout no war but growing up in Fell leaves its scars too. If ya wanna be broken and wasted you know who to look up. Sometimes all ya need is a little help loosening up.** ”

Claire knew she had ptsd and normally she handled it. There had been “debriefing” doctors to talk to whenever she was done with a mission so she knew she had problems. The issue as of late had been finding someone safe to talk to once the war had ended after all what a help it would be to go to the first few sessions then found and carted back to a lab. She sighed looking out over the property zoning out. Being back in a lab then somehow being thrown through reality had to be exacerbating things. The door to the deck opened and Stretch sauntered out closing it softly behind him.

“ Yo, ” he offered. Claire smirked at him as he sat in a lounge chair next to her. “ Smoke. ”

“ Oh, no thank you, ” Claire held her hands up. Taking to smoke wasn’t a usual habit of hers.

He chuckled clicking his lighter to life then took a few puffs, “ Not really asking. ” he was laying back tossing his lighter over and around his phalanges before stuffing it back into his hoodie pocket. He took a long drag then blew the smoke into her face, the scent was odorous. She recognized it immediately and just stared at him in shock. He smiled, quirking a lazy brow bone at her then held out the small smoke.  _ Alright _ she thought to herself taking the smoke and having a long drag herself.

“ Just don’t tell my bro. ”

Claire nodded choking on the familiar burn. Dang this was some strong stuff. She took another few puffs then passed it back to Stretch. They sat in silence for a while passing the smoke back and forth till it was gone. Claire leaned into her knees and started rubbing the back of her neck and shoulder bones.

“ Better? ” Stretch lazied on his chair, one arm over his sockets.

“ Much, ” Claire sighed feeling her skull start to drift pleasantly. “ Look I- ” Stretch had gotten up and placed a hand on her skull. He was looking down at her a relieved, crooked smile playing on his features.

“ S’fine. Everyone relaxes differently, glad I could help.”  He gave her a few soft pats then walked to the railing to lean over it. “Paps and my bro work out, Edge bakes, Red works on his motorcycle, and Sans like to go somewhere quiet with just his music. It’s just like having something to do or something to keep your hands busy till you work through whatever it is that’s bothering you.”

He walked with her back down stairs as Papyrus had returned and went to go get changed. Red and Sans sat in the living room gaming and it was then Claire realized what Sans had meant the night before. On the back of Red’s skull was a very crude drawing in bold red ink. It looked like a gorilla version version of Red sleeping with a large bubble coming out of his nose. Stretch snickered but Claire on the other hand couldn’t contain herself and doubled over sliding down the back of the couch into such a laughing mess her ribs hurt. Red called her crazy when he couldn’t get an answer out of her about what was so damn funny. He was so focused on her he didn’t see Stretch and Sans share a high five behind his back. 

Everyone went out even Sans, since his brother simply wasn’t putting up with him staying at home, though Papyrus and Blue were the most eager to take Claire shopping. They had stopped first at a large mall that Edge suggested since they had shops that catered to monsters clothing needs. The monster of the first shop was a cute cat monster dressed in some of the types of clothes that could be found in the shop. He had greeted them warmly and of course told them to let him know if they needed help with anything. Papyrus and Blue enthusiastically took off through the store hunting down arm fulls of clothes that were even remotely close to Claire’s size.

“ Guys… some of these don’t even match, ” she called from a changing stall.

“NONSENSE, ANYTHING CAN MATCH IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH TO LOOK COOL IN IT!” Came Papyrus’ cheerful voice. Blue agreed and worked both himself and Papyrus into a frenzy of demanding Claire come out and show every outfit.

“ How about the ones I like? We’ll be here all day if I show off  every outfit you guys picked .” Claire giggled at the affirmative they gave and shook her head. Out of what to have been two weeks worth of clothes Claire picked out two outfits. One was a bright yellow tank top with a long skirt of a light tan and a very large floral print cover-up. Even though it was see through it hung down to her hands and past her hips easily. She would like some gloves to go with it, maybe a pair of white elbow length ones. The second had been more of her favorite but wasn’t something she was comfortable wearing outside of her room. It was a pair of green shorts with studded pockets, a black belt, and a black distressed top that had a puffy grumpy face on the front. Also she now had a pair of white socks and mary janes that actually fit.

“ OOOOH YOU LOOK SO CUTE! ” Blue exclaimed clapping furiously when she had finally come out of the dressing room. Claire wrung her hands and laughed nervously at his compliment.

“ BUT YOU NEED MORE CLOTHES THAN JUST THOSE TWO! COME TO THE COUNTER THEN ON TO THE NEXT STOP! ” Called Papyrus already halfway to the register. 

The next place was a little odd. When they stepped in it was like they had left the mall and stepped into a legitimate tailors duly named  _ Miss Feu’s _ . There was a very beautiful moth monster at the center of the floor. Her fur was a pale green and and her wings were a shimmery silver. She had quite the figure and stood just a heads height shorter than Edge. She wore a very form fitting black dress that reached mid-leg and had a sheer split clean up to her hip. There were a few humans that made up her staff but otherwise they were all moth monsters like herself. She greeted them with a thick accent which was returned by Edge who had leaned in and swept her tiny hand up to his teeth. 

“HoHoHo Monsieur I ‘aven’t seen you in quite some time. Looking for someting special?” she cooed fluttering her wings happily. 

“ **The lady here is in need of clothes that suit her,** ” Edge said ushering Claire forward.

“Oh my but she iz petite. Non do not blush we women come in all sorts of shapes and sizes!” She leaned down a good bit to bring her face level with Claires and looked her over with big milky white eyes. “All the more to entice the men non?” She gave her a quick wink then snapped her fingers signaling another moth attendant to come and usher her to the back. “Abscond, shoo!” She flicked her hands at the other skeletons as she fluttered closer to them. “Look around if you must but I must attend to la minette.” 

“ Tibia honest I don’t really consider clothes shopping to be such a mam‘moth’ undertaking, ” Sans said casually checking out a few items.

The loud sound of Papyrus protesting and the rest of the conversation was lost as Claire made it past the curtain to a back room. There was a pedestal surrounded by full length mirrors and a few doors on either side that seemed to be private changing rooms. In the next moment Miss Fue threw open the curtains dramatically then fluttered over to Claire, “Now ma cherie let us begin!” She gently took Claire’s chin with one of her hands tilting her this way and that while another pair took her by the wrists to hold her arms up. “Tell me what colors do you like?” She asked idly grabbing a measuring tape from her assistant.

“ Well neutral colors? Things that are too flashy or loud... _ would give me unwanted attention _ … don’t really suit me. ”

“Truly? Deep bold colors would look stunning on you dear. Turn.” Miss Fue placed a hand on her shoulder helping to spin Claire in place. “What season do you like, or are there many?” She flashed Claire a rather seductive smile causing her to blush a deep green.

“ I-I don’t know really Autumn? ” Claire stifled a shudder as she felt hands ghost about her frame.

“Is this ‘ow you would normally dress?” She asked picking loosely at the flora cover-up.

“ Heh no uh...Papyrus and the others are helping me. Uh I sort of don’t have any clothes anymore. ”

“Oh non I will fix that! Go ahead, I will get you some samples to try on.” The assistant that had been standing to the side fluttered forward with a soft smile and began helping Claire out of her outfit. Claire made a sound of displeasure and nervously declined drawing Miss Fue’s attention again. “Shy ma cherie? We are all females here.” She fluttered back to Claire but shooed her attendant nonetheless. 

“ Look … I just need clothes to cover my… to cover me .”

“HoHoHo lovely that’s what clothes  **do** . Clothes are  **meant** for so much more.”

Claire picked at one of her carpal bones not looking up at the moth lady. It’s not like she would understand even if she did want to tell her. She simply didn’t wear other things people wore because unlike them she was an abomination, grotesque, not meant for pretty things. Unbeknownst to Claire Miss Fue had been studying her face and once again placed a hand under her chin and tilted her head up.

“Ma petite whoever told you you were anything less than beautiful was a liar,” she said softly not breaking eye contact. Claire felt her cheekbones flush and went to look away but was stopped and turned to one of the large mirrors. “You listen to Fue,” she leaned over Claire’s shoulder and locked eyes with here again in the mirror. “I make beautiful clothes but everyone that leaves my shop I want to be beautiful even if they left without a stitch of fabric on. Nothing will ever look good on you, if you don’t think you look good.” 

Claire left the curtained room with her soul still bubbling around in her chest. No one had ever called her the things Miss Fue had, the thought made her blush again. She dismissed any questions about it from the group and instead made a beeline for the door, desperate for some air.

“Monsieur Skeleton,” Miss Fue called to the others. “Take a break return after lunch yes? I will ‘ave her clothes ready then.”

They stopped at the food court where lunch passed uneventful, Claire hadn’t needed to pace the place first which she noted with slight pleasure. They would stop at an accessories shop then leave to go to a furniture store. Despite her insistence that she didn’t need anything for her room Blue and Papyrus had once again worked themselves into an excited frenzy just talking about the options. They picked up her clothes which were neatly packed into boxes. So many boxes, how many outfits had she made? When they went to pay Miss Fue fervently denied payment.

“La petite can come and model for me if she wants to pay me back. The world lacks natural beauty and I would love to make clothing more suited for the fem skeletons.”

Once they were safely out of the store Red took to teasing her about the shop owner. “ **Seemed to me like a natural attraction toots. Like a moth to a bright green flame.** ” Which prompted a good laugh from Sans and Stretch and a ribbing from Edge.

“ Sh-shut up! She was not! ” Claire said blushing a deeper green which didn’t help her case at all.

“ Aww c’mon Red maybe she was just being ‘moth’erly! ”

“ SAAAANS ,” scolded both Papyrus’.

Time flew at the furniture store. Alphys had called to check up on them and to confirm if plans for the night were still on. They left after browsing and ordering what they wanted delivered to the house. Papyrus, Blue, and Edge had plotted and planned her room color pallet which slightly concerned her. The other shrugged well knowing defeat when it came to their brothers and offered her a sympathetic pat. 

“ RIGHT! NOW IT IS TIME TO PICK DINNER! ” Papyrus stated as they headed to the parking lot.

Claire dug through her many bags till she found the one that had the bandannas in it. Picking the only floral one she snapped the tag off then tied it around her skull, “ I don’t really have a preference .”

“ YOU ACCESSORIZE VERY WELL CLAIRE! ” Blue said cheerily, hands clenched into happy balls. This time he didn’t restrain himself as he jumped forward and clasped his hands around her own. “T HAT WAS THE ONE YOU PICKED OUT YOURSELF CORRECT? ”

“ Y-yes? Thank you Blue heh. ” Claire smiled despite herself. Even though she had been mentally preparing to be suddenly glomped the entire trip it still shocked her a bit. 

“ MWEH HEH HEH YOU’RE WELCOME! ALSO TACOS ARE PERFECT FRIENDSHIP FOOD AND WE HAVEN’T HAD THEM YET SINCE OUR VISIT! ” 

“ Tacos sound good Blue,”  Claire said hefting her bags into the trunk of Papyrus’ car. Blue’s eyelights swirled into the biggest bluest stars yet causing her to snort out a giggle. “ They’re just tacos Blue.

“ OH BUT THESE ARE SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP TACOS UNLIKE ANY TACOS EVER MADE! ” He assured her. “ LET’S GO! WE WILL MEET YOU BACK AT THE HOUSE WITH ALL THE PROPER TACO NECESSITIES! ”

Blue and Stretch rode in some luxury car that was a smokey blue. It had four rings as its emblem and other than knowing it was a type of car she would never be able to afford it wasn’t familiar in the least. Papyrus’ car too was expensive he called it his Hot Rod. It had four seats but given his size Claire thought he would have opted for a roomy vehicle not a two door flame painted rocket on wheels. Edge opted to ride with Red who drove a motorcycle which if she were honest made her extremely jealous. 

The smell of spices and cooking meat permeated the whole bottom floor when they made it to the house. Undyne and Alphys showed up about an hour later with a stack of movies to choose from if the ones the skelebrothers had didn’t have a big enough selection. Undyne was very intimidating. Everything from her greeting to excusing herself to help Papyrus set the screen outside seemed like a declaration of war. Alphys on the other hand was the exact opposite, she seemed to startle herself making it very hard for Claire to be afraid of her. Everyone chose a board game to play while Blue cooked, it had something to do with space travel. Players got to be spaceships, satellites, or rockets and you played by rolling dice or picking cards. The goal was to make it back to Earth or.. at least you had to earn fuel or rocks for money and then make it back to Earth? All in all, it came as no surprise when she either failed to make it to Earth, let alone win the past two rounds that were played.  At Blue’s announcement dinner was ready everyone moved out to the back. None of the movies sounded familiar and having her pick based on favorite actors went horribly.

“ Look Punk! What types of movies do you like? ” Undyne asked tossing another movie that didn’t make the cut. Claire thought harder, brow bones scrunching in effort. She hadn’t watched movies in for so long she didn’t know what she liked. Horror or action movies she knew better than to pick because of how it might set her off and she was really trying to take it easy during this “friendship time”.

“ Uh… what about, ” Claire shifted through another pile frantically.  _ C’mon give me something funny... _ “ Here this looks ..good? ”

“ GOOD CHOICE! THIS MOVIE HAS A LOT OF PROS AND CONS THAT I HAVE CONDENSED IT INTO A VERY HELPFUL LIST! ” Papyrus took the movie and popped into the dvd machine.

Undyne leaned over to Sans and whispered, “ She has no clue what this movie is about does she? ”

“ Eh ,” he shrugged. “ Maybe you should ‘just go with it’. ” 

Undyne threw her hands up and groaned loudly scooting further away from him. As the movie started Claire was sure to thank Blue for dinner. They were the best tacos she had ever had she told him which caused him to blush rather triumphantly. Of course they were he had said friendship tacos were always the best! Throughout the movie Papyrus of course pointed out here and there where the actors were going wrong in the courtship. Claire groaned internally, she had meant to find a funny movie not one about love. She felt her face heat up whenever there was even a hint of intimacy on screen. That was never going to be her. Grant it, this had plenty of laugh worthy moments to distract from the romance as this guy Adam or Danny was very funny but also a secretive, lying, asshole. Wonder who she knew that was also being a secretive, lying, asshole? Claire looked out to the group who she had gamed with, ate with, laughed with, was even right at this moment enjoying a movie night with and sighed. 

Maybe the reason she didn’t feel safe here was her own fault? Surely people who had been as giving, kind, and loving as they had weren't malicious. Maybe not telling them the whole truth would jeopardize what she had now, maybe it would. Even with the others she had served alongside in the war with hadn’t be real companions like here. She let her thoughts drift more not aware of the warm fuzzy feeling her soul had begun to radiate.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> act one of slow burn? Sans is trying REEELLY hard to piece Claire together. honestly im fried... x.x been trying to keep updates to once a week but theres so much going on right now i may have to make it every week and some spare change or 2 weeks... sorry >.< had so many interruptions this chapter so again if it doesn't flow right you have 10,000 apologies!!! *THIS STARTS IN SANS POV*

Sans let the movie lull him somewhat to sleep. Rom-coms where Paps favorite right next to straight up chick-flicks so it’s not like he would be missing anything. Instead he ran over the days events seeing them flit through his mind like his own little ‘movie’. He had a short amount of time to go to his shed that morning and write everything down in his notepad along with some extra questions in the margins. The amount of questions still left unanswered only furthered his assumptions that maybe Claire was holding some things back. He understood what that was like, there had been a lot of things he had needed to be truthful about to everyone as well. They had been on the surface for about 10 years, maybe 12? He had only come clean about the resets a few years ago. Things had gotten much better between him and Pap since then. He knew Paps had always known something was bothering him but felt so torn over asking what it was or trying to  make him explain. Sans really beat himself up about that part, Paps had only been trying to help ease Sans’ burdens and he didn’t deserve to be lied to, least of all from his own brother. Sans still kept quiet about the genocide runs and how many times Frisk had killed them or the times he had killed her. Even so, most of his nightmares had ended and even more so since Frisk had showed him the broken RESET button. 

So what is it exactly that was so different with Claire? Her form passed in front of him moving through idle motions on a black background. He looked closely at how she stood and fidgeted in place. She didn’t really slouch so much as she always stood shoulders in and facing at an angle. These were markers of being uneasy or nervous the more people were surrounding her and she was always facing the most open angle for her to run. Much like he had been she also tended to not let someone be behind her and she was constantly wary of being touched. He hadn’t missed how nervous she was at lunch, especially in the parking lot when Blue jumped her. Claire’s image shifted into a more uncomfortable position mimicking someone holding her hands but quickly schooled her face into a smile. He didn’t miss that flash of being startled, even though he was certain he hadn’t seen her smile genuinely yet that expression was too rehearsed. She changed to one of her usual poses, eye lights unfocused on some place at her feet, right hand picking at one her carpal bones.  _ Hmm... _

Paps voice brought him out of his nap, “YOU SEE DANNY IS BLATANTLY IGNORING THE SIGNS THAT KATHERINE WOULD BE A GOOD MATCH FOR HIM. YOU WATCH, THEY HAVE GREAT CHEMISTRY IN THIS NEXT SCENE!”

Claire’s cheek bones were already minty as she mumbled something in reply to Paps and looked off screen. Throughout the movie it was like that, she would watch like normal then if anything as simple as standing close enough to touch shoulders, hand holding, or actual kissing came up she would look away. It was hard to read for a bit but Sans at least felt like he put it together. It wasn’t that she was mad or upset it more looked like disgust? Why would humans be disgusting especially if she had lived with them her whole life? Nope, she blushed and her soul hummed loud enough for him to hear it from where he sat, so the scene wasn’t disgusting. Her cheekbones flushed a deep jade and almost on cue she reached her fingers to her other wrist, digging them into the joint. The sight made him wince, surely that hurt.  _ Ah… I see. _

The movie was almost at its end before Sans became distracted again. There was something keeping him from his not watching the movie, like an annoying mosquito. The thought made him smirk, not that he had any flesh or blood they liked so the skelebros never really had to worry about them but the turn of phrase was always funny. When he focused, he actually noticed he had been tapping idly on his knee in time with whatever was buzzing? Back near where Paps was sitting, Claire had relaxed into the back of the fluffy couch. Honestly it was shocking but also made him happy to see not a trace of tension in her posture. She was propped up on her hand, sockets lidded as she sighed and was… looking at him? No sooner had he returned her gaze then the buzzing stopped and he felt his own soul start to hum happily. Likewise a small smile pulled at a corner of her teeth then she blinked lazily. Sans sat a little confused placing a hand over his ribs as heat crept over his face. Claire blinked again this time seeming to focus and looked around confused. She gave her skull a small shake then adjusted in her seat again, losing the lax position but not really tensing. Sans almost frowned as the humming stopped and she had turned to face away from everyone, away from him.

Had she really been looking at him or had she spaced out? What had made her smile? That was for sure a genuine smile.  _ Was her soul buzzing?  _ He admitted briefly feeling a warm sensation from his own soul but wasn’t sure what had caused it. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt the want to have her look at him again. Even if she hadn’t been staring at him, even if somehow he hadn’t made her smile, he just really wanted to have her look that way again. His soul wasn’t racing by any means but it definitely wouldn’t quiet for the rest of the movie nor did he notice anything else from Claire. Maybe something had happened in the movie to change her mind? Maybe she had been thinking about something completely unrelated and definitely not romantic about anyone let alone him. 

When the movie was over Sans felt the urge to talk to her. Not about anything important, just to talk.  _ Sure Sans it's not like anything about her life is interesting, she only fell through a universe. Yeah open up with that ‘Heya was wondering if you wanted to talk about stuff, miniscule things where’d you grow up? Did you have siblings? Not creepy at all. Ha ha!’  _ He menally smacked his skull. Maybe just chatting with her about little things wouldn’t come across as digging for more information, not that he didn’t want to do that either it was just- Oh great she was occupied. Sans inwardly grimaced but kept his smile on while he watched as Blue crowded her personal space again. Stretch stood nearby trying and failing to keep Blues excitement caped.

“ THAT WAS A REALLY GOOD MOVIE, HOW DID YOU LIKE IT? ” He turned to walk her into the house rapid firing more questions about her preference in movies. Sans felt the corner of his grin twitch threatening to turn down as Blue moved to place his hand at her back. She must have caught it too and moved at the last second to hold the door open letting him go in first. 

Sans’ socket gave an annoyed twitch, they had talked about this. Literally one of the first things he had gone over with everyone was how jumpy she seemed to be and to be aware of personal space with her. She needed to warm up to them first, especially with how enthusiastic his bro could be. He had to remind Paps a few times to try to keep his voice a little calmer and like in the lab not to be as hands on even though Sans knew he meant well. He took a shortcut to the upstairs common room and looked down on everyone coming in. Blue and he would have to have another chat if he wasn’t going to be more mindful. They disappeared under the floor as they moved into the kitchen with Blue still chatting excitedly.

“ Oh wow Blue… Did you have to destroy the kitchen in the name of tacos? ” He heard Claire stifle a giggle making another mental note. If she thought the kitchen was bad now just wait till he made his “special tacos”. His bro always cooked and cleaned up at the same time whereas Blue would cook but always made sure to clean up later.

“ No no! Let me, everyone has already done something and I have yet to contribute. I’ll clean up in here, ” her voice carried sounding very adamant. 

_ Heh _ _ .  _ He leaned over the railing amused.  _ Better not let Paps find out she’s doing the cleaning he’ll flip _ _ .  _

“ EW! ” Claire suddenly cried out making Sans take another shortcut downstairs but out of sight. “ Mustard!? First Sans and ketchup. Now you and mustard! Guys! ” 

Sans peeked around the doorframe to see Red with an amused look on his skull while he shrugged. She shoo’d him out which looked positively hilarious. Here she was barely standing to Red’s ribcage, disgust and bewilderment plastered on her face, trying to usher him out of the kitchen.

“ **Alright, alright I’m goin! Didn’t know you were so opposed to the finer things in life. Can you ‘Musta’ some forgiveness for me?** ” He joked grinning wide.

“ Nooooo! Out! ” She cried trying to hide a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Claire POV*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

  
  


Thankfully it was late enough for most everyone to be calming down for the night. The first thing Claire cleaned was the bar countertop and table so if anyone wanted a place to sit, they wouldn’t be arm deep in taco grease.  _ Just wow _ she thought when she first turned into the kitchen. Blue really did a number on it. She had never seen a kitchen in such a mess from a simple meal before. Undyne and Alphys came in choosing their seats at the bar while everyone else settled into the living room. They chatted about movies and anime finding it hard she hadn’t even heard of it. It was totally awesome Undyne insisted, then listed a few of her favorite ones. Something called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie was Alphys’ favorite which caused her to blush the more into she went. Around the time Claire had finished giving the kitchen its first wipe down the two said their goodbyes and left for the night. Edge stopped in and gave her a small bow saying his good night as well before heading upstairs. 

Claire wandered into the living room just long enough to ask where more cleaning supplies were before heading back to work. She threw occasional glances into the other room and watched some of the shenanigans the skelebros got into. Sans and Red were gaming again while Blue cheered and boo’d equally for both. Stretch lounged quietly in one of the other chairs absorbed in a math book of some kind. It didn’t take long for Blue to tucker himself out though so Stretch scooped him up in a hug then stuck his head in the kitchen bidding Claire goodnight. She giggled softly when even in his sleep Blue mumbled incoherently as if to protest actually being tired.

It had been quiet for awhile as Claire scrubbed away. The kitchen was mostly clean now and all the dishes were neatly stacked to one side ready to be washed. She sighed, placing her hands on the crests of her hips to stretch admiring how much she had gotten done. She gripped the edge of the counter with both hands, planted her feet, then pulled quickly to the right. 

“ Oooo, ” she groaned quietly as a few bones in her lower back popped sending a pleasant shiver down her spine. “Nnnng!” Claire reached her hands way above her stretching her hands up making her shoulders pop.  _ Now then _ . She sighed relaxing forward, starting the sink wash water. She washed the first few dishes in silence really wishing more than anything she had something to listen to. Faintly whatever had been playing on the tv drifted into the kitchen which reminded her that there might be more dishes in there. Oddly enough the room was empty except for the dishes which she stacked neatly in one hand. She found the remote and switched the tv off and wandered to the space out back gathering more dishes and turning off lights as she went. 

Claire pouted a bit when she made it back to the sink, with these new additions there were still quite a few dishes. She rolled her eye lights, oh well she volunteered plus she wasn’t tired anyway. She glanced to the clock that read 12:17 and blinked a little at herself. She had had a long day but was still wired which wasn’t exactly a surprise but a girl could hope filling her day to the brim would make her tired. Turning back to the sink she started to hum to break the silence and after a bit she found herself wondering what song it was. She hadn’t realized how long had passed but she felt someone near, then proud of herself for not being startled. She turned to see who it was when Sans announced himself.

“ Hey, ” she greeted softly turning back to the sink.

“ Hey. ‘Water’ you doing? Not still stuck with clean up duty? ” 

Claire rolled her eyelights then motioned to the mountain of dirty dishes still left. 

Sans leaned against the counter to her right, “ Alright. Knock knock? ”

Claire eyed him as if to say ‘really?’ and shook her head chuckling, “ Who’s there? ” She was willing to bet good money he was about to say dishes.

“ Dishes, ” he said grin widening as he reached for a drying towel.

She bit back a laugh but nodded right along, “ Dishes who? ”

“ Dishes a really bad joke. ” Sans snorted taking a plate from the drying rack, swiping over it a few times.

“ No kidding, ” she said finally laughing a little. Was he waggling his brow bones at her? Her hand shot up to her mouth as she snickered, “ Awful joke. No one thinks that’s funny. ”

“ Everyone thinks it’s funny. And you’re laughing .” Sans finished the dish with a look of smug victory then sent in to the cabinet with his magic.

Claire watched him reach for another dish kind of taken aback. Monsters of course used magic for everything but it had been a long time since she had seen any used casually. He had opened a different cabinet and sent a colander to it before shutting the door. He raised a brow bone at her in a silent question.

“ Blue magic. It can hold lotsa stuff.. ” Sans trailed off actually turning to put away another dish.

Claire shrugged, “ Clearly. ” 

With Sans’ help she finished the dishes quickly and gave the kitchen one final wipe down. Satisfied she had erased any evidence of taco massacre they went to sit on the back porch. They talked quietly about the day and how Claire felt about each housemate so far. Genuinely everyone was so nice which was something she wasn’t used to. Monsters and humans hadn’t gone back to getting along in the few years after the war which was part of it. But the other part was, just her in general she explained. Most humans or monsters just didn’t like her and again she found herself explaining about the boarding house where she had been living before. There was an older monster who went by Ms. Kirk that ran it. Her husband had died many years prior which made Claire sad for how lonely she must have felt even with having a house full of other monsters. There were a few veterans living there since no where else would let them stay and like herself they had a hard time finding jobs to pay rent. The little boarding house was in disrepair but it was where she had called home for almost four years. 

Claire commented on Sans’ blue magic explaining she had never been shown how to use it before. She had a specific purpose in the war which was why she had never been allowed to focus on other forms of magic other than the one she already had. 

“ I uh… was the medic, ” she slowly started. “ When I volunteered the recruiters noticed that without much practice at it at all I was just naturally good with healing magic. ” Claire held her hand up like she was cradling something in her palm. Little green embers popped across her bones then struck into life dancing about, not quite like flame but not too different from it either. From just the small amount emanating from her hand, healing energy drifted around them it’s tiny green embers floating about like fireflies. She snapped her hand closed and stuffed it under the back of her knees sitting close up on herself.

“ Kinda dumb it’s the only kind I know. ”

“ I wouldn’t say that, ” Sans gave a lazy shrug, “ There’s lots of monsters that can’t use green magic and even of those that can it’s all minor stuff. Paps is good at it but was taught by Grillby so it’s gotta be sayin something for you to be naturally good at it. ” 

Claire sighed looking up into the night sky. The moon was waxing but was still not even half full, no clouds were obscuring the stars and yet it was very dark out. Maybe she could have been naturally good at healing magic if it had been nurtured at a young age. But of course any part of her having magic at all was undesirable in that part of her life, she was still honestly surprised she had lived long enough to even make it to school.

“ Me and Paps didn’t have parents to teach us so what we’ve learned we kind of picked up over the years from everyone .” Claire hmm’d in response. “ Was it your folks that taught you how to heal? ”

“ No my parents didn’t… uh, ” Claire fidgeted trying to think of something quickly. “ I mean I didn’t really  show any promise… well that is, it was hard for me to manifest my magic for a while. But I had someone teach me heh, just not my parents. ” Claire felt a bead of sweat trail down the back of her skull but otherwise maintained a neutral face. “ I went to a special University even for kids who were smart or gifted. For a long time I read books on human and monster anatomy. Human anatomy of course being much more complicated since monster bodies are magical representations of their souls, healing for them is mostly about intent. Grant it some of the more physical monsters required more specific types of healing but even then you can apply the bulk of healing directly to the soul and get results. Humans need nerve endings, blood, blood vessels, skin, muscle, bone, connective tissues ...”  Claire laughed nervously and gave an apologetic look, “ and I’m rambling. ”

“ Nah not rambling. You really seem to know your stuff. You wanna talk about rambling we can get into particle physics and quantum mechanics. ”

“ So in depth conversations about physics and quantum sciences but you’re not something ‘the field has use for’. ” Claire scoffed rolling her eye lights heavily.

“ Yup like I said I major in being lazy and tellin jokes. So two atoms walk across the road when one says ‘I think I lost an electron!’ ‘Really?’ the other says. ‘Yes I’m positive!’ He says.’ ” 

“ Ugh no! Telling  _ bad _ jokes! ”

“ Bad? That’s joke gold lets see you do better. ”

Sans told a plethora of science jokes and was even gracious enough to keep a tally of just who was winning their little contest. Currently they were keeping up with jokes they had never heard before, Claire had 4. Sans had 27. Claire laughed til her ribs hurt and another pleasant feeling settled in her chest. She placed her hand there over the spot as if she could palpate its warmth. Sans had stopped his roll of jokes to give her a break and sighed looking up to the stars. 

“ I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of looking at those. ”

“ Oh? ” Claire looked at him pulled from her thoughts. “ Oh that’s right… monsters and… underground. ” She glanced up as well noticing each pinprick in the night.

“ It wasn’t ** so** bad, ” Sans started. “ Me and Paps lived in a town called Snowdin, like snowed in, heh. They were these types of districts where the weather was regulated with magic for the comfort of the monsters living there. Snowdin was like perma winter. There was Waterfall which had a lot of water flowing through it, like a skele-ton of water. It was always raining there too. Then there was Hotland where the CORE is which was how we harnessed geothermal energy since it was built into a lava pool. Then the Capitol which was the most complicated of locations since many monsters of so many different kinds lived there. Each home was outfitted on the inside for whatever you needed instead of having sections of the city covered in snow or the next hotter than a dessert. The Capitol was alright… most monsters wanted to move out of the towns and head there which made it super crowded. We moved to Snowdin cause the cold doesn’t really affect us the same and it was a quiet little town. It had this cool forest of tall pines and a big iced over pond kids would play a game on. One of my favorite places was Grillby’s though, Grillby owned a bar down there that just had the best food.”

Claire smiled listening to him recall his home. Even though monsters had been trapped underground it seemed they had certainly made a life for themselves and seemed to enjoy their home. Not like where she lived where monsters were almost so downtrodden they probably would have preferred living underground. She knew it wasn’t like that everywhere but after the war most places were rough for monsters on a good day and on a bad one? Sans had stopped and was looking her over thoughtfully. Uh oh, had he asked something and she wasn’t listening, was she supposed to respond? Oh yeah he had asked where she was from. 

“Uh well I’m sure the names of places don’t matter since it would be like describing color to blind person but I grew up uh...when I was little uh sort of near the coast? There is a river that flows down and out to the sea and near its end was a town, Tupala. They exported wood, fish and the like and other than just a few small areas there was nothing really to the town.” Not like she remembered any of it though, all she knew of it was from the one time she risked visiting. Once right after the war she managed to snatch a few things from her file case then flee. In one of the folders it had basic information age, sex, height, other bodily capabilities, and one useful thing was where she had been from. She still had the box of what had been left of her life before sitting buried in the closet back at Ms. Kirks boarding house. 

“ Leave any family there? ”

Claire wanted to answer yes. She wanted to be able to say she still had a mother and father that lovingly and dutifully watched over her older siblings. But she knew that would have been a lie, they had long since given her up. “ No, I don’t have any family. ”

“ Oh did they… was it because of the war? ”

“ You could say that. ” Claire looked down at her hands choking up a bit at the painful thought. How does one say your family thought of you as a burden all the more better to hide or get rid of? That volunteering was just as much of a way to show you mattered as it was trying to get out of their hair? They were probably happy now. They had probably taken the news of her death in stride and didn’t even bother to mourn. “ You know… That sounds nice actually, being underground minus the whole trapped part. All those places sound wonderful if not interesting to say the least. Heh I don’t think I could live near lava but it sure beats the heck out of being hungry or living in a slum or having to worry about sirens or raids, late night visits or… ” She trailed off. Claire rubbed her arms again suddenly feeling a chill. Stars it had to of been late and here she was keeping someone awake. She rubbed her face roughly with her palms and stood to go. “ Uh it’s getting pretty late. I’m sure you’re tired. ” She gave a weak smile and made for the door, “ Thanks for your help, g’night Sans. ”

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Sans POV*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans woke up on the couch alone.  _ Seems like everyone went to bed _ he thought yawning. Red had been watching another documentary after their game which seemed to be about over now.  _ Wonder how late it is? _ He pressed the menu button on the remote and scanned for the time, it was right past midnight. Of course the lights were on, Red probably just teleported up to his room. Sans stretched out as far as he could relishing having the couch all to himself and was just about to start his rounds before a noise stopped him. Frozen in place he tilted his head to listen better, who would still be awake? Soft broken humming mixed with the occasional scraping or banging filtered in from the kitchen. Quietly as he could Sans flipped then peeked over the back of the couch. He had to stretch a bit to the side but he could just see into the kitchen where Claire was still cleaning.  _ Jeez Blue must have really did a number in there for her to still be cleaning. _ The next though smacked him in the skull, he could help and maybe get to talk to her like he had wanted earlier. Sans took a quick shortcut to right outside the kitchen.  _ Or maybe she wanted to be left alone? _ She had had a busy day and even though it had been almost an hour this had been the only real alone time she had gotten all day.

Sans risked a peek into the kitchen, fighting the urge to talk if it was going to bother her. She sighed heavily, shoulders relaxing. He quickly ducked back behind the wall when she turned for fear of her walking out to see him standing there. Instead he heard a loud cracking and a groan. He peeked back in, she was stretching.  ***** POP POP *** ** She groaned again, stars that one even sounded like it felt good. Sans shortcutted back upstairs feeling his face heat up. Was he really going to creep on her? Those noises though, so cute!  _ You’re a full grown skeleton pull yourself together! Talk to her or go to bed. _ When he popped back downstairs the lights were off and she was in the kitchen with...more dishes? Better do a public service, don’t want her here all night. Yeah that was a good excuse public service, doing a help, very friend, much nice, wow. 

He leaned on the door frame for a bit just listening while Claire continued to hum. It was nice but he would definitely be a creep if he didn’t get to helping. He called out first letting her know he was there then started in with the jokes, chicks liked humor right?  _ Yeah Sans good stuff, it’s not really a public service if you here to hit on pretty skeletons, not for the dishes. _ He was glad to see she was playing along though, still answering his clear set up for a dish joke. He was so lost in the moment he almost missed the odd face she was making. What was she looking at?  _ Oh! Oopse… _ He forgot the first time they met officially he had used blue magic to hold her in place and here he was just putting dishes away with it. Crap he really didn’t want to put her on edge so he started drying them and putting them away by hand. 

“ Blue magic. It can hold lotsa stuff. ” He watched her carefully. She wasn’t scared more like genuinely intrigued. 

“ Clearly, ” she replied simply enough.

Was she not familiar with blue magic? Odd for a skeleton to not realise. It held their bones together, could be used for anything really cleaning, cooking, moving, lifting, holding things… Sans shook his skull. They finished with dishes and once she wiped everything down again a satisfied smile crept over her face. Man he really did like the way she smiled and lucky enough for him she wasn’t tired so they went for a sit outside. 

“ So uh how you liking everybody? Some of these clowns can be a little ‘in-tents’. ” She laughed quietly but said how everyone was agreeable enough.  _ Yeah when I can get them to not be so handsy _ he thought. 

“ It’s not what I’m used to for sure but … I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. Most people and monsters where I’m from just don’t like me. ” She gave a strained smile and shrugged it off, “ Most days I’m either invisible or I’m the equivalent of of leftover spoiled meat. ”

Well that he didn’t get, what was supposed to be so off about her that other monsters didn’t like her? In Underfell monsters were not so kind and loving either but that was because of the magic pollution. Was there something similar like that where she was from or was it because of something else altogether? 

“ Ms. Kirk runs the boarding house I stayed in, she was one of the few monsters that seemed to really like me. I didn’t have any money to live there but as long as I healed some of the tenants she let me stay for free. It was in a run down part of town and the building was in awful need of repair even so it was a lot better than living on the streets. A comrade that served in the war with me had died just a year after due to how rough things got out there. ”

Sans could feel his soul throb painfully the more she explained. Life hadn’t been ideal Underground but he had been willing to move on from his past and make a new life for Paps and himself. Honestly after they settled in Snowdin things had been relatively great until the kid and the resets. But according to Claire there had been nothing about living on the surface that was worth it. She had grown up feeling the tensions of war brewing then been apart of it. Even after it was over it seemed a small consolation prize in the face of things still being such a struggle for monsters. Then she mentioned his using blue magic and not knowing how to use it. He listened with a neutral face but in his mind he was beyond confused. She had to of known how to use it, at least on a fundamental level since its what skeletons used for locomotion. She talked about being only good for one thing during the war which was why she hadn’t studied other forms of magic.

Sans watched closely trying to read between the lines and pick up on what she wasn’t saying. She had struggled with her magic at first, which wasn’t so uncommon in monsters. Then went to Uni at an early age when her magic did manifest and showed promise. She even showed him her magic. He sat up in his seat and scooted closer to watch as even the small display was very good. She had summoned a small pale green wisp, it danced in her palm and sent small sparks of the healing energy into the air around them. What was even more impressive was how quickly she had called it up, she didn’t look even the slightest bit phased either. Papyrus had been trained by Grillby and he healed well but it took a good bit of concentration from him to summon and maintain. Grillby had much more control and ease with his own use of healing magic but using even small amounts could be draining. He was certain given its aura if he had been injured she wouldn’t even need to touch him for it to affect him.

Claire shut her hand tight canceling her magic and sat up on herself. Clearly this was not absolutely amazing to her to have healing of this magnitude and control. As a matter of fact, she seemed almost begrudging to have it, as if she could trade it for knowing any other type of magic she would. Having healing magic was rare of monsters since so many had died in the war or not lived past being underground, was it really so un miraculous where she was from? He told her how rare it was to be able to heal and that most people even if they weren’t born with knowing a certain magic type they could always learn. She watched the night sky unfocused, seeming to drift deeper into thought. Her face fell the more she talked about her family and life before which only made him slightly regret asking. Despite everything she really did know her stuff those years studying and getting hands on practice was certainly what gave her the level of expertise she commanded.  _ Maybe a joke would turn things around _ … Success! 

Sans kept up the comedy act the more laughs he got from her. What was really shocking was some of his regular ones she had never heard before. She had the cutest bubbling laugh that would turn into a high pitched cackle if he tickled her funny bone the right way. He caught himself staring at how her cheekbones would get a dusting of green or how she tried to hide her smile behind her hand. She was starting to get small tears at the corner of her eye sockets from laughing so hard and her eyelights, they shone like the stars overhead! Sans rubbed the back of his skull nervously and looked up hoping she wouldn’t notice him blushing like a fool. He told her about living underground enjoying how easy it was to talk to her. He found it a little bit odd, he had never really opened up like this about what it was like for him. But there she was smiling and listening like it was the best thing she had heard in awhile.

Thinking now was a good a time as any, Sans started asking about her. What was it like for her growing up on the surface? What had her family or friends been like? She mentioned being taught by a monster, Sans wondered who that might of been or what this University was like? But whatever good vibe he had worked up during their conversation quickly dwindled. Sans noticed her once again picking and choosing her words carefully as well as the micromovements she made signaling her discomfort. She was alone… She had explained however veiled that she no longer had a family and not much of a place to stay he pieced together. Apparently he had touched a still sensitive nerve, she clammed up, and switched moods. She wanted to leave but feigned his inconvenience, thanked him for what he wasn’t quite sure but he bid her goodnight and let her leave all the same. 

What was it about him that kept fucking things up? Clearly she was so scared of things being the same here as they were from her timeline. She had trust issues and he knew she had to be lying or maybe at least not telling them everything. Sans stared at the stars again feeling his soul ache. It felt so good being in her presence, hearing her laugh, watching her light up. He closed his sockets and watched her from his mind again. She had been hurt, the thought stung him as he remembered what he found the night in the lab. He held the image of her face up to the dim moonlight imagining he could see the hairline cracks. The others come and go as they please back to their own universes and timelines, would she want to leave? The thought displeased him more than he felt it should. Sans sat up and placed his skull in his hands.  _ Or would she not? _ It might be a safe bet to say she would not want to return to her timeline ever if his gut was right. Could he even send her back? It wasn’t like he had the coordinates needed, the night she arrived by all accounts had been a fluke. He had to be missing something. Maybe he would try to calculate a way back and she could decide if she wanted to take it…. Even though he might hope she wouldn’t. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OKAY so the infamous chapter 6 is here... that one i half way did between birthdays, therapy, moving, and holidays....heh yaaaay... >.> so summary i guess is we learn the answer to Sans' question last chapter as well as get a new one for Sans himself.

**Chapter 6**

***Claire POV***

  
  


Claire shuffled quietly about her room as the sun was coming up. She had slept much better but was still having nightmares. She unlocked her window to let the fresh morning air in and starting making her bed. Last nights dream hadn’t about labs, scientists, their experiments but it wasn’t as if reliving the war through the night had been a better experience. It was January first in this dream, the day their group had finally penetrated enemy lines after four hard months of trying. Claire’s brow furrowed as she swapped sides noticing the corner she had just tucked didn’t look sharp enough. She snatched the sheets out and started over, the dream still vividly playing in her mind. They had been sent to get some captives and bring them back of course everything went sour. In her dream the leader had found many other captives, more than the ones that had actually been found and demanded they stay for her to heal them all. Real life had been strain enough to heal the severe wounds the party had but that number had tripled in the dream and on top of that they had drew the attention of the monsters in the camp they were in. Sounds of bullets, magic, and screams pierced her consciousness while she was frozen in time her own magic dwindling dangerously low. 

She always feared dusting when the tax on her magic was so great. She shuddered thinking to some of the nights in camp when she had been utterly spent. She would be laid on whatever cot had been empty and left feeling so numb she couldn’t even feel hum of her soul.  _ Enough! _ With her bed good enough to pass inspection she went to the closet and fished out one of the boxes from the bottom. She had already went through them and felt most were too fancy based the material they were made out of alone. The outfit in this box was really simple in comparison to the others. Inside it was a cream colored blouse with sleeves that came just past her elbows but still felt thin enough to be suitable for the season. It came with matching half finger gloves that had nude shaded embroidery of filigree on the back. They shorter than she would have normally bought but she was thankful for them regardless and pulled them on first. Next was a pair of pleated capris of a blue grey that matched her mary janes. Claire dug through some other bags and found a matching blue bandanna that she folded and fit snugly to her skull to complete the outfit. Neatly putting everything away she made a pass around the room locking the window then made for the second floor common room. She had no real plans for the day, it was still early so the only one she expected to even be up would be Papyrus and with as much as she might like to go for a run, she didn’t have the clothes for it. All the clothes she had were so nice she didn’t want to ruin them by getting a work out in them. 

The bookshelves in the common room had a very diverse selection ranging from books on puzzles, local economies, joke books, self help books, a few fantasy genres, and most surprisingly was the largest section comprised of school texts. The lowest started at high-school level, rising to college, and even specific subjects based on particular fields. She chuckled thumbing over a few quantum physics books. On one of the top shelves there were a few psychology texts she would have loved to glance over but she had no hope of reaching them so she opted for a large book on geology instead. She curled up in a lounge chair near one of the windows and began flipping through it. Large folded up pages could be flipped out to expose special maps showing locations and depths of certain materials. She passed through chapters that talked about geode cashes, how they were formed, their mineral strengths, and how some could even be recreated in labs. She read in silence for a few hours before the sounds of others waking and moving about the house caught her attention. She continued to read but found a part of her thoughts always remained focused on the entrance to the room. She smiled to herself as loud conversing echoed from the floor below, apparently it was the norm for this bunch to be loud in the mornings. Soon the front door slammed with what she assumed to be Papyrus leaving for his morning run but was confused by the energetic stomping coming up the stairs. She saw Blue zoom by on his way up the other flight of stairs and heard him settle on the side where the gym was.

“ **AH GOOD MORNING** ,” Edge greeted. “ **WE THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE SLEEPING THROUGH BREAKFAST. DO YOU ALWAYS READ IN THE DARK?** ” He was still in his pajamas and held a comically dainty cup of something. 

Claire gave a weak shrug and hefted her book towards the window indicating she had enough light through it to read. He made a noise of dismissive agreement but flicked the light on regardless then chose a book for himself. Much to her enjoyment, he made no attempt at small talk and instead kept to himself.They read in silence until Red showed up with a handful of brochures. 

“ **Ay Boss so there’s a stalemate on activities. Picking is a real ‘beach’ heh - Oh there you are!** ” Red’s grin grew as he strode in and handed Edge the brochures. He took a seat next to him and picked up his tiny cup. “ **We missed you a ‘latte’ at breakfast,** ” he joked earning a groan from Edge who snatched his drink back. 

Claire chuckled a bit and apologized, she just wasn’t very hungry she explained. All was fine he assured then brought her attention to the brochures, passing them to her when Edge finished. They were for a beach trip they all had planned to go on since before her unexpected arrival. He asked for her opinion on some of the activities and which she thought were best. She had never been to a beach before Claire admitted feeling a little awkward handing them back certain her input wouldn’t help. Edge went into how fascinating it was and that he always enjoyed deep sea fishing. Sans and Red like anywhere else tended to just laze around but there were large outdoor dance clubs which were Blue’s favorite. Of course there were plenty of shops and restaurants with different foods to sample. Before long Edge excused himself with Red in tow behind him leaving Claire to her reading once again. She would have to find a way to excuse herself from going, maybe while they were gone she could establish a job for herself and safely move out to her own place.

Finding herself a little stir crazy she returned the book then walked the house and property. Other than Sans’ room, none of the doors were locked but if they were closed Claire left them be. One door held her particular interest which was the one on the shed out back but it too was closed and she felt for sure it was off limits. Instead she headed to the garage in a vain attempt to distract herself from the shed. It held the many vehicles of the skelebros and Red lay in a corner on his back currently working on his. He drove a bike which had a large portion of its workings dismantled and on the floor next to him. Claire stayed a while to watch him work and handed him tools while they talked. He would live in the garage if he could he said, there was just something about working with his hands. Back in Fell he never had as much time to work on his bike as he would like, Toriel kept them both pretty busy with guarding Frisk.

Claire held her skull in her hands and rubbed her temples gently, “ So you really can travel to… a different time and place. Just like that? ”

“ **A lil yeah an a lil no.** ” Red sat up and wiped his brow. “ **See usually we have these machines that Gaster made. Their purpose eludes to researching the void but s’really hard to pinpoint since uh… the good ol’ doc doesn’t really have a trustworthy track record ya’noe? But teleporting and the machines mechanics are basically the same. Heh lost ya?** ” He grinned big at Claire’s utterly confused face.

“ Teleporting like literally I’m here, now I’m there? ”

“ **Well yeah,** ” Red scratched his jaw. “ **There’s parameters, certain limitations but basically it works like a shortcut. Givin a lil pinch to space time,** ” he said bringing his thumb and index finger close. “ **If ya been to a place before ya can teleport to it just as easy as walkin. But for new places there’s a risk of poppin in wrong or even in the wrong place. Now with getting to and from timelines… that’s a big jump takes alot outta ya. But Sans has sorta figured it out on his machine, once we’re here we can get back on our own.** ”

Claire laughed nervously, “ Heh..heh that’s just… ”

Red wiped his phalanges on his clothes and strode to her, “ **Hey don’t stress, it’s hard to explain let alone understand.** ” He squatted into her field of vision and offered his hand, “ **I can show ya. I promise s’not as scary as yer first time.** ”

Claire took his hand and stood while Red explained they would do a short one. There was a small tug and her vision blurred then she found they were standing on the other side of the garage. Red smoke was fading from where they were and around them now while an odd sensation played across her bones. 

“ **See s’not so bad.** ”

“ Heh… yeah, ” she said shakily.

“ **One more? Still small.** ” When she nodded he gave her hand a gentle squeeze then she felt another tug. This time she tried to focus on what she was seeing distracting from the tingly feeling that dragged along her bones. It was like passing through a tunnel, every sensation from the garage faded behind them then there was darkness. It was a confusing feeling of crushing emptiness, oppressive and cold then held a light at the end. It was a blurry image that she couldn’t quite make out then the second passed and they were in the kitchen. Blue and Stretch were there and had stopped their conversation at their appearance. Blue had a small towel draped over his shoulders he still used to dab at his skull.

“ Lookin a little ‘green’ behind the gills there ,” Stretch joked, small grin playing over his face.

“ Brother! That Is Not Nice. ” Blue got a glass of water and hurried to hand it to Claire. 

“ **First coupla times are a lil rough, only thing for it really is ta take more trips. The after effect goes away eventually.** ” 

Stretch gave her a candy he said should help settle her post shortcut jitters. They sat and talked briefly, with Blue crowing proudly about his workout. He and Papyrus were going to spar later once Papyrus was home from work. It was all good friendly exercise Blue explained and extended an invitation for Claire to join. She quickly declined with the excuse of not having the right clothing for such things, which Blue took as a personal challenge, running off to fetch some spare clothing of his for her. Much to her surprise and dismay they would fit although she didn’t like how much bone they would show. Papyrus returned then and actually helped her argument, agreeing that sparring for her might not be the best thing right now. It would however give them another opportunity to go shopping, this time at a sporting goods store that Paps liked.

“ ONLY OF COURSE IF YOU WOULD LIKE !” Papyrus assured her.

It was really hard to say no to Papyrus when he was being so considerate. “ I wouldn’t mind, ” Claire replied sheepishly. “ I used to have a routine myself. ” 

This knowledge excited the two skeletons as they took to asking what she did or how often. Did she prefer running, free weights, or any other kind? Thankfully Sans came to the rescue throwing out a quick excuse about something personal she needed to settle before ushering her out. They retreated to the back yard where Claire thanked him. They strolled around the yard for a minute talking when Sans finally stopped his joking and looked worried. 

“ I wasn’t exactly lying, ” he said when she pried. “ I know you’ve been overcoming some things but I did have a question for you. ” Sans scratched the back of his skull mulling over his words, “ You came here through the machine and with a little math and maybe a bad joke or two I could send you back. ”

Claire cast a wary glance to the shed then back to Sans. Did he want to send her back? She thought she would get to stay. Was he going to send her back to Gaster?!

“ Of course only if you want to! I’m not going to make you go back. Claire look… noone is going to make you go back. ” He gently took her hands in his, “ Hey you’re fine, everything is fine .” He kept his voice steady and reassuring as he gently rubbed circles on the back of her hands. She had begun to shake at his mention of possibly sending her back. “ Claire I mean it the others come, visit, and leave when they want. I may not know everything but clearly where you came from is not somewhere you wanna go back to .”

“ I ** never** want to go back, ” she said panicky. 

“ Then you won’t .” Sans said seriously. “ C’mon short stuff I didn’t mean to upset you… I just wanted to know what you wanted. ” Claire nodded relaxing a bit. Sans smiled and lazily tossed his skull back, “ How about we leave? Let’s go grab some air somewhere, anywhere. Wherever you want ok? ” Claire agreed but really wanted to walk, she didn’t feel like trying out any more shortcuts for today. Sans was alright with walking, Paps was always trying to get him to exercise so a little foot work wouldn’t kill him he laughed.

Sans’ favorite restaurant was Grillby’s but was too far for a walk however the park where he sometimes sold his ‘dogs was close. He didn’t pressure Claire for more information, instead they walked in silence or talked about what he and Paps did now they were on the surface. Paps was the monster “mascot” and went on many trips with Frisk and the Queen at important events. He was super cool and friendly and according to Sans there was no one better to strike up friendships with the humans of the surface. He also attended a police academy which he enjoyed thoroughly even wanting to specialize in special victims unit. And even though Sans was super proud of his bro he still had his concerns about how out there his brother made himself. Sans had many jobs that all brought in varying incomes. One was selling monster food in differing locations, another was making and selling gadgets of his own but that was more of a hobby, he took lots of side jobs doing security details for a lot of the local businesses, and he made a decent bit of side money from helping Alphys with her projects. What took up a lot of his time however was his job as the Judge. For now he decided an easy explanation would be best, since he didn’t really want to scare her off about it. The humans had their own law system for them that punished wrong doers, his role as Judge canvased both human and monster laws. Monsters or humans that infractioned the law pointedly at the harm of the other in specific hate crimes always got sent to him for their punishment. A Judge, he explained, was a boss monster with an extra special ability to read the souls of others without the need of an encounter or to pull the soul out to ascertain innocence or guilt. 

If he could see SOULS had he been able to see hers? The shell should have protected her secret which could be why nobody had hurt her yet. But what if he had, was he ok with the truth? Before Claire could overthink herself into a panic she noticed others had come to the park as well. Papyrus and Blue had come with some friends of which Claire recognized Alphys and Undyne but there was a human child and goat monster in tow. Sans introduced them, Toriel as he mentioned before was the goat monster and queen along with their adoptive child Frisk. They both were very supportive of the skelebro household and had come to watch Papyrus and Blue spar and had even brought a picnic lunch for after. Some of the moves they had shown off were very impressive especially Papyrus. Where as Blue’s attacks were complicated and fast paced, Papyrus’ were methodical, less direct, and acted like a giant mobile puzzle. Undyne made for a fair, albeit boisterous ref and even go a turn in before everyone tucked in for some lunch. 

Despite the laid back demeanor the queen had, Claire couldn’t help but feel nervous. She was out in the open, in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar people, having lunch with a queen. Stars above! Conversation was light and pleasant even when Toriel asked more about Claire. She exchanged a few basic details and was extremely grateful her highness hadn’t pried. She was also beginning to feel very boxed in. Blue had taken a seat right on her other side and was efficiently crowding her space making her shift every so often closer to Sans. Plus any time something was handed out he would deliberately offer her whatever it was before passing it over her to the next person. It was getting so bad Claire was passing up on certain things just to keep Blue from pressing too close. Frisk was adamant she try some pie Toriel had made.

When Blue had a slice he had turned right to her positively beaming, “ LADY TORIEL BAKES THE MOST EXCELLENT PIES CLAIRE! HERE TRY! ”

Claire felt magic flush deeply as he leaned to her, fork at the ready. This was normal right?  _ It’s just pie… with friends… stop being so weird! _ She stammered under her breath in a moment of indecision before leaning forward taking the offered bite.  _ Close closecloseclose toocloseneedstobackup! _ Claire scrunched her face chewing completely missing the glare off happening between Sans and Blue. The taste fizzled all over her mouth, it was creamy at first then like all things monster food dissolved into magic. Claire brought her hand up over her mouth and tried hard to give a convincing smile. 

“ Oh yes it… it is very good! ” Her tongue formed quickly trying to swallow the bite down. It was unbearably sweet and although it left a warming sensation throughout her skull and body as she swallowed, the lingering taste of butterscotch overpowered anything else. 

Frisk beamed up at her mother who nodded in thanks. Blue and Papyrus both continued to praise the pie while Claire quickly took a large swig of her drink. Stars… the taste of over-sweet pie lingered. Maybe it was her fault… she hadn’t had many opportunities to eat many sweets since before the war. Maybe the pie was actually quite good, everyone else seemed to stomach it just fine. It’s magic told her it was made with love which was slowly starting to spread over her soul.  _ Nope ...too sweet… _ The green on her cheeks turned a bit more grey and she broke out in a small sweat when Blue caught her attention again, offering her another bite. She quickly thanked him but passed and gave the excuse she was already full. She stood then and bowed slightly thanking the queen for the meal and went to excuse herself. A small sigh left her when Sans stood too offering to walk her back home that she gladly took. Her thoughts raced about the scene they were leaving behind. There’s no way they would have wanted there if they knew what she was. Blue wouldn’t have wanted to sit next to her or even share his pie for that matter. None of them would have welcomed her to sit with them… and this pie. This sweet, tender, affectionate confection just wasn’t sitting well with her.  _ It’s not meant for something like you! You’re just a liar tricking them! _ Once out of the view of everyone she turned down a nearby alley and threw up, the sparkling green of her magic tasting just as sweet as the pie had. Thankful Sans had stayed back near the entrance, she mumbled a shaky apology and denied anything being wrong when he questioned. She really just had too much to eat. Everything was fine, she was fine.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The horse jostled a bit as it galloped off over the hillside. Pride, peace, and excitement swelled in his SOUL now that he had his maiden in his arms. The rising sun was bathing her bones in a lovely golden hue contrasting beautifully against her white gown. A crown glittered over her skull but it paled to how her eyelights shown when looking up at him. The castle was far behind them now as were her troubles and fears. Sans leaned over her cupping her face gently in his palm. They had fought their way to freedom with blood, sweat, and tears, and now at long last she was safe with him. Her face softened and that beautiful smile of hers spread sweetly across her face. She leaned into his touch as they came together and Sans felt his SOUL flip. Since the invention of the kiss there had been five kisses that had been rated the most passionate, the most pure. But when their magic met in that moment, Sans felt as this one left them all behind.

“ Never leave me, ” she breathed, nuzzling her skull to his.

“As you wish. ” *

Sans snuggled up to his balled up blankets feeling his SOUL buzz warmly under his ribs. Nuzzling it softly he yawned and stretched out over his bed before rubbing his sockets. What time was it? He sat up drearily feeling better rested than when he first woke that morning but still had a skull stuffed with fuzz. Why was is his SOUL acting this way he thought idly rubbing his sternum. He had been dreaming but what about he couldn’t place. He chuckled at the irony of betting if it had been a nightmare he would have remembered it vividly. He got up and scratched his pelvis through his shorts sleepily hearing Blue volt up the stairs and to his room. Wishes?... Maybe he dreamed about shooting stars or something and that’s where the wishing came from? Heh, he ‘wished’ Blue could curb his excitement for just a few minutes of any given day  **ever** . He grabbed his hoodie and threw it on when he heard his brother return from the event he had with Tori and the kid. He lounged against the railing and pulled out a spare ketchup bottle from his hoodie while he listened to Pap talking below. It sounded like Claire had finally made an appearance by the way his bro and everyone was going on. He sipped his ketchup feeling a little guilty. She had probably slept in thanks to whatever he had said the night before but at least maybe she got good sleep. He tucked the rest of the ketchup away and groaned inwardly knowing he was going to bring up another sensitive topic real soon. 

Some feeling or another made him port downstairs where he noticed Blue and Papyrus both grinning from ear to ear so to speak. They were asking about exercise routines both feeding off each others energy.  _ Stars! _ Sans groaned to himself they were gonna run shortness to death if he didn’t act quick. He noticed her hand had already started to move to hook into her wrist when he interjected.

“ Ay icey you made your way down this morning, ” he called lazily. 

“ SANS ICE PUNS ARE IRRELEVANT! NYEH IT’S NOT EVEN WINTER! ” Paps was facing him now hands placed on the tops of his pelvis.

“ Aww snow prob bro. You can take the skeletons from Snowdin but you can’t take the Snowdin from the skeletons. There will always be room for ice puns in your heart .” Sans said feeling his grin broaden. The look on both Stretch and Red telling him they clearly saw the set up coming. 

“ SANS WE DON’T HAVE HEARTS! ”

Sans place a hand over his sternum in mock hurt, “ Bro how heartless of you! ”

Both he and Blue let out exasperated yells while Red, Stretch, and himself snickered in quiet victory. 

“ But seriously I gotta borrow Claire for a minute. Got some more questions that need answering before she flakes out on them. ” Sans gave a lazy wink to his bro while he hovered near Claire keeping her space unoccupied but slightly ushering her out of the room. 

His gaze locked with Blue’s briefly which made his grin stretch a little, heh, the big baby bones was giving him that look. When Claire didn’t hesitate to get up and head out he shot Blue one back then tossed his hands behind his skull. If he would just stick to Sans’ suggestions they wouldn’t be having this pecking fight. When they made it outback she thanked him sheepishly, a pale green blush dusting her cheekbones. Eh it was no big deal he could tell Blue was doing that thing again making her all uncomfortable. She was still picking at her wrist so he started in with the jokes and had her laughing in no time. Even though he had lightened the mood he saw how she eyed the shed the few times they had circled by it. The probability of her wanting to go back seemed very slim to him but still, he had to know ,to ask just to be sure. He heaved a sigh thinking of the easiest way to ask.

“ Sans?... Something wrong? ”

“I wasn’t exactly lying… I know you’ve been overcoming some things but I did have a question for you.” Sans scratched the back of his skull choosing his words carefully, “You came here through the machine and with a little math and maybe a bad joke or two I could send you back.”

Her eyelights shrunk to pin pricks that flicked between him and the shed. _Shit._ “Of course only if you want to!” He added quickly. A few beads of magic popped up over her skull and she stopped breathing. “I’m not going to make you go back. Claire look… noone is going to make you go back.” He gently took her hands in his and shook her a little to get her to focus on him, her eyelights were getting too hazy. “Hey you’re fine, everything is fine,” he soothed, gently rubbing circles on the back of her hands. She had begun to shake, bones rattling softly which he feared she might but at least she was looking at him now. “Claire I mean it the others come, visit, and leave when they want. I may not know everything but clearly where you came from is not somewhere you wanna go back to.”

“ I ** never** want to go back, ” she deadpanned. 

“ Then you won’t .” Sans said seriously. “ C’mon short stuff I didn’t mean to upset you… I just wanted to know what you wanted. ” Her shoulders viably slumped at that, it was good that she trusted him. “ How about we leave? Let’s go grab some air somewhere, anywhere. Wherever you want ok? ” when she agreed Sans felt another hum from his SOUL, relieved she would agree to go anywhere with him even after that stresser.

He figured the air and change of scenery would help further solidify her ease, after all if she didn’t want to go back, he had not a problem in the world with that. Here would be her new home, where she could be safe and happy, that made him happy. She was quiet on their walk but Sans didn’t mind plus if she was thinking, it was only of good things he noted. Sans watched her through the corner of his socket, she had stopped picking at her nervous tick and her posture was easy.  _ Much better. _ Since Grillby’s was too far Sans walked them to the park, maybe next time she wanted to go out they could go to Grillby’s he was sure everyone would love her. His thought’s stopped and he nearly tripped.  _ Just out Sans … not like a freaking date! Although what if she did want to make it a date? _ He shot her a few nervous glances thankful she hadn’t noticed.  _ Stars cool it Sans, you’re gonna start blushing like an idiot! What’s gotten into me huh? Oh thank Asgore’s fucking fluffy buns the park. _ He schooled his face into something more neutral as they took a short track along the left side of the park. Everything was peaceful until Sans heard a familiar voice calling him. What was Paps doing here- dammit. Blue must have changed the location of where they were going to spar. 

He and Blue had Undyne, Alphys, the kid, and Toriel in tow. They had agreed to set up a place a good distance away from passers by and Undyne would ref for them. Alphys invited them to stay and sit with Tori and the kid to cheer them on all in good fun. His bro was the best Sans thought even if Blue was strong and had his own fighting tactics, there was just no beating Paps in the long run. Claire once again was duly interested in what both skeletons did in their sparring match, if healing magic was all she knew then maybe they could show her more. Maybe not just attacks but any other magic she could mustard.  _ Heh. _ When everyone had successfully been tuckered out Tori spread out a blanket and started setting up for lunch. And in record time Blue was right back to ruining things. As Tori handed out food and drink to be passed around, Blue began taking extra purposely handing the extra off to Claire. Not to mention the twerp was crowding her again and where as Sans didn’t mind her scooting closer to him, he really wanted it to be because she wanted to not because she was trying to escape Blue. Much like earlier they started exchanging looks having a silent conversation of sorts with Sans threatening Blue to back off and Blue retaliating by both ignoring him completely and continuing to invade Claire’s space.

With dessert Sans found his patience worn thin. Blue had intentionally skipped a piece of his own pie in order to share one with Claire and added insult to injury by offering to feed it to her himself. To his surprise he took the bite which prompted the best of shit eating grins from Blue. It was almost as if he was saying ‘see she likes it’ reminding him of what Blue had said the last time they talked. ‘HOW WILL SHE GET WARMED UP TO ANYONE IF YOU WON’T ALLOW ANYONE TO GET CLOSE TO HER’ he had argued. Grant it, it sounded logical but clearly doing things that made her uncomfortable wasn’t the way to get close. Claire chimed in with how delicious the pie was that pleased everyone else but he saw how she dug into her wrist again. Not to mention had begun to turn a not so pretty shade of green. Sans could feel the unease building even before she got up to excuse herself and took the chance to leave with her shooting Blue one last look, they would be having words later. At a much faster pace than they had earlier and being of much stiffer back Claire turned and left without another word. Standing at the front of an alley close by Sans felt even worse, guilt tugging at him for not stepping in sooner. Claire had ducked into the nearest alley and hurried to the back of it to vomit. Fear began to roll off of her in waves which concerned him to no ends, tugging at his SOUL to the point he almost went in after her.

“ You… you alright in there shortness? ” 

“ M’fine. Sorry...just stay there. M’fine ,” she mumbled weakly.

Right. She continued to stutter out apologizes and convince him she was fine, she had just eaten too much. So that was twice she lied today he thought, corners of his smile twitching down a bit. They continued their fast pace back to the house everything about her posture, how her eye lights scanned for any threat, and the one hand constantly digging into the join of her other telling him all the tension he had worked out was back in full force. The left wrist was even becoming bruised from all the stress. Sans glowered quietly, he and Blue would definitely have words.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok so i been using this piece as a practice for what i want to do. I have chapter 7 about half way done but i cant find the motivation for it anymore. I will finish just not now. I had in the works a story that was the purpose of this practice story. as well as quiet a few i wanted to make an string into a series. sorry for the disappointment but i do have another story in the works an will be starting to post it. This was supposed to be short but as it turns out each chapter keeps getting a bit longer an i do want to flesh out some things a bit more... idk better? so yeah things are slow going... in the process of having to get a new therapist, been getting behind on my sessions and still havent worked out of lets say my funk... bear with me! New story to come! <3

Not an actual story chapt update


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